


Missing Peace

by Timeline15



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon Compliant up to 'Change Your Mind', F/F, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Episode s05e29-32 Change Your Mind, Post-Series Pre-Movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:15:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 50
Words: 80,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21755875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Timeline15/pseuds/Timeline15
Summary: Set a few weeks after the events of 'Change Your Mind'. Steven and the Diamonds reach out to the people of Earth, in the hope of repairing relations between the planets. The Crystal Gems, the Diamonds, and diplomats from around the world, try to make a peaceful path through the uncertain period of transition that follows. Some people though, have other ideas...
Relationships: Crystal Gems & Steven Universe, Lars Barriga/Sadie Miller, Original Gem Character(s)/Original Gem Character(s) (Steven Universe), Pink Diamond & Original Gem Character(s) (Steven Universe), Ruby/Sapphire (Steven Universe), Steven Universe & White Diamond
Comments: 56
Kudos: 146





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! 'Missing Peace' was the first fanfic I ever wrote, published on FF.net in February 2019. At the time, it was written to be fully canon complaint. Since then, the events of the movie and 'Steven Universe Future' have thoroughly contradicted it. Now that I'm uploading it here, I've opted to leave the story unchanged, and simply mark it as 'canon divergent'. I'm hoping to post chapters every Wednesday and Saturday. Hope you enjoy it!

****

**Beach City, Delmarva:**

Steven stood on the beach, waiting nervously as Pearl and Peridot tinkered with the bizarre contraption they had built. White sat down next to him, awkwardly curling herself up to give the others room to work. After what seemed like an eternity, Pearl turned to Steven and gave a thumbs-up. Greg raised a large film camera over him shoulder, wires of every colour snaking out of it into the machine. Steven took a deep breath, and got ready to give his speech. It was time to send the message he and the other Gems had been planning to send for some time…

**The White House, United States of America:**

James Dalton sat behind his desk in the Oval Office, sifting through a pile of documents. No doubt anyone who was working elsewhere in the building would assume that at this moment he was contemplating the political issue of the hour, but if he was being honest, he was thinking of little other than what he was going to have for dinner that night. It was getting late, and he’d been wading through particularly impenetrable documents for hours.

He was just about to pack away his papers and head out, when a particularly startled looking aide ran in through the door, flanked by several security personnel. The aide had clearly sprinted the whole way there, and after taking a moment to catch his breath, blurted out the message he had been sent to deliver.

“Sorry to disturb you Mr President, but you need to see this.” On a monitor that had been wheeled into the room by one of the personnel, a video began playing.

On the screen was the image of what appeared to be a young boy, certainly no older than his mid-teens. He was fair skinned, dark haired, and somewhat chubby, and wore a red t-shirt emblazoned with a yellow star. He had a soft expression on his face that conveyed nothing but pure innocence. Why then, was this seemingly innocuous child being presented to him? Dalton wondered to himself. Then the boy began to speak.

“People of the Earth….um…Hi? My name is Steven Universe. I’m speaking to you today because there’s someone who’d like to introduce themselves to you.”

The boy, Steven, gave an encouraging nod off to the side of the screen, and the camera began zooming put. Dalton nearly dropped his stack of papers at the sight he was presented with next. The camera had panned out far enough to reveal the ‘person’ sat next to Steven. She was colossal; easily 20 feet in height, if not more. Her skin was pure white, and gave off a radiance that almost obscured her features, making her nose look like little more than two slits. Her irises were pale grey, and Dalton wondered for a moment if she might be blind, but the way her eyes darted from place to place, clearly taking in information, told him this wasn’t the case. Embedded in the woman’s forehead was a massive, clear gemstone, barely visible in the glow of her skin. Dalton sat in stunned silence as the camera zoomed back in, this time on the giant woman’s face.

“Er….hello….humans.” The woman began. “My name is White Diamond. Leader of the Gem Empire.”

The nerves this ‘White Diamond’ had exhibited at the start of her sentence began to evaporate, and her face took on a slightly calmer demeanour. For her to calm down that quickly, thought Dalton, she clearly had experience addressing crowds. He couldn’t believe he was making such a casual observation at a time like this, but at least it meant his wits were still about him.

White Diamond spoke again: “I speak to you today to request a formal meeting with your world’s leaders. Our peoples have been on the opposite sides of a terrible conflict for millennia. It is time we start to fix that.” Dalton blinked in disbelief. He had never even seen a creature like this before, much less heard of humans fighting them. What on Earth was she talking about?

“We wish to meet with you for a…peace talk” continued White Diamond. The words ‘peace talk’ escaped her lips in a tone that indicated the phrase was as alien to her as she was to the humans she was addressing.

“We will meet in Beach City, Delmarva, in three days’ time. I hope to see you then.” The camera then quickly panned back to Steven, who blurted out “Um….Thank you!” before the feed cut off.

Dalton sat in stunned silence for a moment. His staff looked at one another nervously, before the aide finally spoke.

“Mr President, as far as we can tell, this message just played on every screen on the planet. Every world leader received it.” After what seemed like an eternity of trying to gather his thoughts, Dalton finally looked up, a mix of panic and determination flashing in his eyes, and barked an order:

“Get me the governor of Delmarva, now!” It was going to be a very long night…


	2. Chapter 2

**Beach City, Delmarva:**

It had been three days since Steven and White Diamond's announcement had been broadcast to the whole of planet Earth. After confirming with the governor of Delmarva that the message was genuine, and that for some reason, the state was actually intending to host the proposed conference, James Dalton sat nervously awaiting what would happen next.

He was sat in a fold-out chair at a long conference table. As he felt the sand shift under his feet, he thought to himself "I knew they were hosting this conference in Beach City, but I didn't expect it to actually be _on_ the beach."

The whole affair was bizarre. It looked as though it had been organised in part by a diplomat and in part by a child (though, given who sent the invitations, perhaps that shouldn't have been surprising). The visitors' name plaques were written in Marker pen, and a barbecue had been set off to the side, and was being operated by a middle-aged man in a tattered shirt and jean shorts. If this were anything else, the dignitaries would almost certainly have raised a stink, but none of them seemed eager to risk angering the alien being who had invited them there.

Dalton ran his hand through his hair absentmindedly. It was black, with grey fading in at the edges. Given how these last few days had been, he very much doubted there'd be any black left by the end of his presidency.

As he looked around the table, he was reminded again of just how many countries were in attendance. There were some missing of course (a few countries weren't really on speaking terms with the US after all), but every major power bloc was represented. Presumably, no one wanted to be left out of what could be mankind's first meaningful negotiation with an alien race.

Other than the visiting leaders and their translators, the event was fairly sparsely populated. Dalton's advisers has urged him to bring a lot more security than he had, but he had reminded them that their hosts were not only giants, but apparently had the technology to hack every computer system on the planet, and that it was therefore highly unlikely that any amount of security would make a difference if things went South. Many of the other leaders had evidently had similar conversations with their staff.

At the end of the table (or more accurately, on top of some shipping containers near the end of the table) sat three enormous alien women. The largest Dalton had recognised the moment he saw her as the 'White Diamond' from the transmission. To her left sat Blue Diamond, slightly smaller than White; her face forming an awkward smile. To White's right sat Yellow Diamond, clad in what resembled some sort of armour, with her face set in a poorly disguised dismissive expression. Dalton did his best to overlook their size, which was even more imposing in person than on a screen, and tried to focus on trying to get a feel for them.

Between the outfit and the surly attitude, Yellow struck him immediately as a military type. "That's ok" he thought "I can read people like that".

Blue was harder to pin down. Her expressions seemed gentle, and she was dressed in a sort of strange hooded gown. She didn't at all give off the demeanour of a planetary ruler, but Dalton reminded himself not to underestimate her.

Then there was White. Yellow and Blue were consulting with her frequently enough to show that she was clearly the most senior, and yet she looked nervously around herself like a child on their first day at school. Dalton grew concerned. Was everything about this conference on the up and up?

Then, as if to answer his question, White looked down near her feet, and the anxiety fell away from her face. It took Dalton a moment to notice that she had looked not at an empty space, but at the child from the transmission. 'Steven Universe' as he had introduced himself, sat at the end of the table, just in front of the Diamonds. He was so much smaller than them that Dalton simply hadn't noticed him until now. Dalton's confusion only intensified at the sight. Were they having the child do the negotiating for them?!

The sound of a microphone feeding back cut through the chatter. As all eyes turned to the head of the table, Steven spoke:

"Hello everyone, thank you so much for coming. I know I speak for all of us here in Beach City, and the Gem home world, when I say we're glad to have you here." For a teenager, the boy clearly had a knack for giving speeches. Steven continued: "Now, I'll hand you over to White. She'll give you the full story."

White shifted awkwardly on her makeshift seat, and then began her introductory statement. Earth and Homeworld were about to be officially introduced…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since the first couple of chapters are so short, I thought I'd upload them both today. It's very OC-heavy right now, but the focus will shift more towards the canon characters as the story goes on. Chapter 3 will most likely come this Saturday. Hope you're enjoying it so far!


	3. Chapter 3

Dalton's head was spinning. White Diamond's explanation of the history of Homeworld was basically a laundry list of atrocity after atrocity. If what she was saying was true, her people were essentially intergalactic conquerors.

A quick glance around the table revealed that the other world leaders were feeling similarly uncomfortable, many exchanging concerned glances or mutterings. In the midst of the flurry of information though, Dalton noticed something peculiar: none of the other leaders were making use of their translators. He hadn't taken note of it before, what with all the larger concerns weighing on his mind, but now it stuck out to him. It seemed that everyone present could understand White as well as he could, despite the fact that he could swear she was speaking English. How the hell was that possible? Had the Gems put something in their brains?

Banishing the thought, Dalton did his best to stamp down the feeling of panic welling up inside him as White continued to explain Homeworld's less than savoury actions. The Diamonds had said that the purpose of this gathering was to improve relations between the two worlds, after all. Though how one could even begin to fix what apparently amounted to millennia of oppression was impossible to imagine.

Perhaps sensing that the mood of the crowd was turning, White began to look sheepish again. She blushed slightly, and began nervously biting her lip. It briefly struck Dalton that she might have looked quite attractive had she not been, well... 25 feet tall and talking about invading planets. White fumbled her way to the end of her introduction, and turned to Steven, evidently hoping he could salvage things. The boy gave her a subtle nod, and she began trying to dig herself out of the hole she'd just put herself in.

"You've um…. all heard a lot today about what my world used to be like. B-but… things are different now. I'll um…. Just hand you back to Steven. He'll explain the rest."

Steven, happy to take some of the pressure off White, told the visiting leaders everything that had happened since Homeworld's encounter with Earth. He told them about Pink Diamond and her planned colony. He told them how she fell in love with Earth and its life. He told them about the stand she took against her family, and the war that was fought over Earth's fate. Finally, he told them about his own life, and the impact he had had on Homeworld.

His story seemed to conclude just a couple of weeks prior to the meeting. While Steven's side of the story was certainly more…optimistic that White's, Dalton still found it hard to believe. Had this boy really reformed an entire society in a matter of weeks? And if this newfound attitude from the Gem home world was so recent, was there any reason to assume it would last?

"Aaaand…that's the whole story. Any questions?" said Steven, giving a nervous smile. Dalton was about to speak, when one of the visitors sitting to his right beat him to it.

Sevastien Azarov; the Russian President, was a tall, imposing man (though obviously far from the most imposing person around the table, given the presence of the three Diamonds). In his fifties, yet still highly muscular, he was the typical strongman Dalton had come to expect to emerge as the victor in Russian elections. He didn't appear to be intimidated by the Diamonds, or, if he was, he wasn't showing it.

"You expect us to trust the words of a child? These people have admitted to countless invasions, and you expect us to allow them to place troops within striking distance of our countries based on your assurances?!" Dalton did need his translator to know what the Russian had just said, but even before he received the translated version he could tell from Azarov's tone that he wasn't convinced.

It was Yellow who spoke next; clearly disgruntled: "We would be within striking distance of your planet from the other side of the galaxy."

Azarov rose from his chair, his anger beginning to boil over. While Dalton highly doubted he was intimidating anyone, he didn't want to risk even the slightest chance of a human angering the Diamonds, and potentially causing them to turn their anger back on Earth again. He rose to speak:

"What Yellow Diamond was trying to say, Mr Azarov, is that if Homeworld intended to mount an invasion against us, they could easily do so, as they have done in the past. The fact that we are still here suggests their intentions are genuine, wouldn't you say?".

Azarov calmed down slightly as his translator delivered Dalton's point to him, but seemed to not be done airing his grievances. He turned back to Steven.

"Even so, I came to this little get-together on the understanding that the humans in this city vouched for these… Gems. And now you tell us that you are actually one of them?! How are we to trust anything you say?" Azarov said in an accusatory tone.

For the first time, Steven seemed genuinely rattled. Evidently his heritage was a bit of a sore spot. Dalton was about to attempt to defuse the situation again when a voice piped up before he got the chance.

"I can vouch for them!"

Dalton looked to the source of the voice. It was a young, thinly-built West-Asian girl with neck-length hair, and large, dark eyes. As was the case with Steven earlier, Dalton had completely overlooked her in the early stages of the conference.

"My name is Connie Maheswaran. I'm one of the few humans to have visited Homeworld, and I can promise you that Steven's telling the truth. The Gems really are trying to change!"

That seemed to make some of the leaders settle down, though others were understandably less than reassured by the words of yet another child. And so the day went on, as various world leaders shot questions back and forth with the Diamonds until the sun was setting over the ocean horizon.

As Dalton was flown home, it seemed as though some progress had been made. It had been agreed that there would be no immediate attempt to remove the Gems currently residing in Beach city (not that any human power would have been able to do so anyway), and that the Diamonds would allow Earth's leaders to visit Homeworld for themselves if they so desired. In the least, things were no longer at a boiling point.

Steven watched the many helicopters leave as he stood on the beach by the now abandoned table. He took a deep breath of sea air, trying to calm his nerves. He felt Connie put her had on his shoulder, and looked reassuringly at her, before turning his gaze up to White.

"I… think that went well?" he said in as confident a tone as he could manage, but he had a strong feeling that healing the rift between the two worlds wasn't going to be that easy…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, going back and reading chapters I wrote months ago makes me realise just how much I've improved since then. Still, I'm resisting the temptation to try and alter them after the fact; I want this story to have parity with the ff.net version. Hope you've been enjoying it so far!


	4. Chapter 4

Steven looked around at crowd of humans and Gems that was now covering most of the Beach. Most of Beach City's residents, including the newly-uncorrupted Gems, had been watching the conference from the boardwalk. Now that the visiting diplomats had left, the crowd had spilled out onto the beach itself. Many small groups were chatting amongst themselves, but a large number were gathered around Steven.

They were all talking over each other, so it was hard to make out many words, but Steven guessed they were probably asking about how the conference had gone. Steven could see Connie chatting to another, not quite-so-agitated group of Gems further down the beach. He wished he could go over to her and thank her for speaking up earlier, but he clearly wasn't going to get the chance. As he looked around for a way to slip out of the throng of people, Garnet and Bismuth pushed their way through the crowd.

"Alright you rocks." Bismuth said in a loud but jovial tone: "We know you're all real excited to know what's gonna happen, but Steven doesn't know any more than you do. We'll get back to you as soon as we know more." Without waiting for an answer from the huddle of Gems, Bismuth picked Steven up onto her shoulder, and walked him out of the crowd and back towards his house, with Garnet following close behind.

"Thanks for the save Bismuth" chuckled Steven. "I've been spending all day trying to reassure a bunch of humans; I don't think I could spend all night doing the same thing for the Gems."

Steven was grateful for the break, but he knew someone would have to give Beach City's new arrivals some answers sooner or later. Most of them had been Crystal gems during the war, and so were already quite at home around humans, but not all the Gems would be so trusting.

Centi, no…Nephrite, (Steven mentally corrected himself) and her crew, had been part of Homeworld's army, along with many of the other uncorrupted Gems. While some had gone back to Homeworld after being cured, others had stayed behind, either because they had taken a liking to Earth, or because they felt too ashamed of their new appearances to go home. Many were still dismissive or distrustful of humans, and Steven wished he could reassure them that they had nothing to worry about, but given how some of the conference guests had behaved, he knew he couldn't make that promise right now.

Once Bismuth set him down near the house, Steven cast appreciative glances at all his friends, many of whom were still clearing up after the conference. Peridot was busy tinkering with the machine she and Pearl had built to transmit Steven and White's message. It was largely made of old Gem tech, cobbled together with bits of scrap from Amethyst's room, but some fresh components brought from Homeworld by the Diamonds had helped get it up and running.

Lapis lay on her back in the sand, staring happily up at the sky, while Pumpkin slept beside her head. Amethyst was eating the spent coal out of the barbecue, while Pearl looked on with a smirk. Just a year ago, Amethyst's behaviour would have earned a look of disgust from Pearl, but they had both grown so much since then. Everyone had.

As Steven looked over to where the Diamonds' ships were parked, combined into their upper body configuration, he saw Blue and Yellow, vanishing into the entry bubbles of their respective hands. Blue waved to him with a grin as she was enveloped, and sank into her ship for the night. Yellow awkwardly flashed a peace sign as she did the same.

One Diamond though, was not heading back into her ship. Steven noticed that White was still milling around the outskirts of the small crowd. As he caught her eye, she made her way over, tip-toeing precariously so as to not accidentally step on any of Steven's friends.

"Hey White. What's up?" Steven said reassuringly to the obviously nervous Diamond.

"Well…" replied White, steeling herself enough to get her thoughts out: "How do you think it went? I know you said it went well, but I could tell you were just saying that to calm everyone down. Do you think I intimidated the humans? I hope I didn't make things worse fo-"

Steven cut her off by jumping onto his balcony and hugging her leg. "It went fine White. This is new to everyone. It's gonna take time. When they come to visit Homeworld over the next few weeks, just show them the same side of you that you show to Yellow and Blue."

"You really think that will work?" White replied, gazing down at him. Steven smiled back. "I know it will."

As White made her way into her ship, in visibly higher spirits, Steven headed into the house to get some dinner, feeling a bit more optimistic himself. After all, they'd all faced seemingly impossible tasks before, and they'd succeeded every time. If anyone could make this work, it was him and his friends…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, we have our first chapter to actually focus fully on the canon characters. We'll still be going back to the politicians every once in a while, but a large portion of the focus will be on Steven and the Crystal Gems going forward. How have you guys been liking the story so far? Any feedback is appreciated. I'll see you all on Saturday!


	5. Chapter 5

**Gem Starship 'Destiny Annihilator', Homeworld system, one week after the conference** :

The flash of colour streaking past the viewing port turned to a beautiful starfield as the 'Destiny Annihilator' dropped out of gravity drive. From the observation lounge, Sevastien Azarov stared out at the striking image of the Gem home world.

In the week since the Beach City Conference, he had been quick to organise an official visit to Homeworld, eager to ingratiate himself to this powerful new neighbour before the other nations could do so. Homeworld's government; the 'Diamond Authority', had been more than happy to oblige, and had sent the impressive Starship to pick up Azarov and his entourage.

And what an entourage it was; several ambassadors, a small army of bodyguards, and among them (strictly unbeknownst to Homeworld); an intelligence agent. Azarov had noted during his time on the ship that none of the Gem technology present seemed to have any idea how to deal with humans. His people could walk through the forcefields as though they weren't there, the automatic doors wouldn't open for them, and any food they required they had had to bring themselves, as the Gems clearly had no need for sustenance.

If this lack of notice was also true on Homeworld, thought Azarov, his agent's job would be substantially less difficult than expected…

**Homeworld, capital city:**

The 'Destiny Annihilator' landed in a massive open area near White Diamond's head ship. Like its sister ship; the 'Destiny Destroyer', it cast a menacing silhouette against Homeworld's skyline. As the entry hatch swung open and the Russian delegation stepped out, the ship's captain, an Emerald with her gem positioned over her sternum, watched them leave.

Emerald was glad to have the humans off her ship. She could barely stand to have them wandering around it with all their noises and smells and… fluids. She found organics more than a little disgusting, but an order from the Diamonds was an order from the Diamonds. So, like a good Gem, she had ferried them here from their little colony world. As the hatch closed and she was once again alone with her ship and crew, she breathed an exasperated sigh, before ordering her crew to begin decontaminating the place.

Outside the ship, Azarov stared around in awe at the Gem city he and his people had just emerged into. It was more densely packed than any city he'd ever seen on Earth, with scarcely a single patch of ground free of buildings, save for the large open square they had landed in. The buildings were every shape imaginable, and shone in various pastel colours, giving off a background light which caused the sky itself to appear a strange violet colour.

The square itself was split into four quadrants; coloured for each of the four Diamonds, and at this moment was bisected by a long red carpet which had been laid out for Azarov's visit. A thinly built yellow Gem with large eyes and a long conical nose stood expectantly on the carpet, flanked by rows of bulkier Gems playing some sort of equivalent of brass instruments.

The yellow Gem cleared her throat, and then spoke: "Greetings human visitors. My Diamond has requested that I be your guide around our radiant city. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Azarov introduced himself, and his ambassadors, but stopped short of introducing any of his security personnel. After all, if they were overlooked enough that the Gems took no notice of their number, it would be all the easier for his agent to slip away unnoticed should an opportunity present itself.

The yellow Gem, apparently called 'Pearl', led the party around various stately buildings bearing carvings of significance to Gem history. As most of the delegation took in the astounding sights of this alien world, one of their number had his mind strictly on business. Yuri Rozhenko loosened his tie slightly, as he felt the tiniest amount of sweat beginning to collect under his shirt. Even after years of training in espionage, conducting a covert operation on an alien world would give anyone nerves.

As the tour passed yet another grand temple, Rozhenko waited until he was certain no Gems were looking in his direction, and seized his chance, slipping silently into an ally between two nearby buildings. Free from prying eyes, he could now set about his assigned task: to gather as much information on the Gem government as possible, and, if possible, procure some small items of technology along the way.

The alleyways between the buildings were dark. The skyscrapers were so tall and densely packed that they blocked out all natural light. The only illumination came from the unearthly glow of the buildings themselves. After only a few minutes of navigating the alleys, Rozhenko came across a slightly more open road. Peering carefully around the corner of the alley, he saw a Gem structure which was clearly considered off-limits.

Its entrance was covered by a forcefield, which was guarded by two yellow Gems, both of whom were built like tanks. They stood at least seven feet tall, and their torsos were almost completely cuboid in shape. In their hands they carried large two-handed axes. The pair of Gems didn't look like the sharpest tools in the box, so Rozhenko was confident he could slip past them fairly easily.

He took a miniscule explosive charge out of his suit jacket, planted it at his feet, and then carefully slunk into the next alley over before detonating it. The blast wasn't big enough to damage anything, but it made a noticeable amount of noise and smoke. As the two Gems rushed to the scene, Rozhenko slipped out of his alley, and walked undetected through the forcefield.

He allowed a small grin to appear on his face. He was in…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it didn't take long for someone to push their luck did it? Anyway, some quick updates regarding the upcoming chapters: There won't be a chapter on Wednesday (Christmas day and all that), so it will probably go up on Thursday the 26th instead. Likewise, I'll be away visiting family on Saturday the 28th, so that chapter will likely go up on the 29th or 30th. Thanks to everyone who's commented so far; I love hearing that people are enjoying the story. I'll see you guys next chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

**Homeworld, Unknown structure:**

Yuri Rozhenko walked quietly through the angular yellow corridors of the strange Gem structure. Keeping the sound of his footsteps to a minimum, he was very conscious of just how quiet it was. A low, electronic hum seemed to resonate from beyond the walls and floor, but other than that there was no discernible noise.

For a building that had been guarded, there was surprisingly no noticeable security on the interior. Given what little Rozhenko knew about Gem society from the briefing he'd received prior to this assignment, it was likely that the concept of disobedience was so alien on Homeworld, that the Diamonds hadn't felt the need for any greater surveillance. He briefly allowed a smirk to break his stoic façade. If there was anything of technological value here, he could take a good look at it uninterrupted.

As he rounded a corner, he emerged into an open chamber. There was a worktable in the centre of the room, and the walls were lined with various screens and consoles. Perhaps some sort of control room? Any free patches on the walls were covered in panes with what seemed to be facial features carved into them. A strange architectural flourish for such a seemingly functional room, he thought, but then, all of Homeworld's architecture was bizarre.

Knowing better than to try to operate the consoles, lest he set off some sort of alarm, he instead searched for any loose tools or parts he could easily carry out. Taking a few small objects from the table, he carefully slipped them into sealable bags, and stowed them in pouches built into his suit. Once he sensed he had everything he would be able to comfortably hide in his jacket, he turned to make his exit.

He only got a few steps before a bright column of light erupted around him.

* * *

Rozhenko felt himself lying on a cold stone floor, but as his senses returned to him and he looked around, he realised it wasn't the same yellow floor of the room he had just been standing in. The ground here appeared pale purple, and this place, wherever it was, was so dimly lit he could only see a few metres in each direction of the dim spotlight what was shining onto him from somewhere high above.

He could hear the sound of agitated muttering around him, and peering into the gloom, he could make out a huddled crowd of figures standing around him at a distance. He could make out virtually nothing about their features, but the range of shapes and sizes of their outlines were enough to tell him that they were Gems.

Trying desperately not to allow his fear to be visible on his face, he moved to stand. A mixture of gasps and murmurs went through the crowd as he did, as some of the figures recoiled, while others inched closer to him. In the darkness, Rozhenko had no way of knowing if they were doing this out of curiosity, or malice.

"Enough." A deep yet feminine voice cut through the chatter, and the crowd instantly fell silent. "Bring it here."

A passage formed in the huddle of Gems, as two of them grabbed Rozhenko by the arms, and marched him forwards for a few moments, until he found himself facing what appeared to be a large throne. 'Throne' was the word that had struck him when he saw it, due to how large and raised it was, though on closer inspection (as much as was possible in the gloom) it appeared to be made out of rubble and scrap.

On the throne sat a figure. Rozhenko could barely make out her outline against the silhouette of the throne. She was large, though nowhere near large enough to be a Diamond, and was heavily built. She slouched lazily on the throne, her head resting on one of her fists. After a brief moment, the figure spoke again.

"So, someone stumbled across our hidden warp pad. Would you like to explain yourself, Peridot?"

A small Gem emerged from the crowd. Her silhouette was dominated by her large triangular head, and a Gem of the same shape, which was embedded in her abdomen. Nervously, she spoke.

"Commander, I know you asked that the warp remain cloaked to avoid detection, but when this… creature entered the Diamonds' facility, I judged that you would want to see it for yourself, so I opened the warp from our end and brought it here."

Rozhenko wondered how she could have possibly seen him, when a chilling thought struck him: _The faces on the walls_. Surely they weren't…

"You judged correctly Peridot." The figure on the throne replied, cutting short Rozhenko's theorizing. Visibly relieved, the 'Peridot' scurried back into the crowd.

"You'll have to forgive the secrecy" said the figure, speaking to Rozhenko now (though he noted that despite her friendly tone, the guards hadn't released his arms). "We wouldn't want Yellow Diamond's court finding the entrance to our little meeting place."

Rozhenko was confused. Were these Gems undertaking some actively behind their Diamonds' backs? That seemed uncharacteristic, but he knew better than to ask too many questions now, in case they decided he knew too much to be allowed to leave. As it stood, if these people were rebels, they might be more inclined to overlook his trespassing.

"Still," she continued, "we're all so glad that you're here. You're going to be so much help."

She rose from the throne and stepped down towards him. He could see now that she was seven, maybe even eight feet tall, with a huge mane of hair that fell almost down to her knees. As she approached him, she lifted his chin gently with a massive finger and thumb. Rozhenko did his best to keep his face as steely as possible, and looked up at her.

"What is it that you want from me?" He said as calmly as he could manage.

The multifaceted Gem embedded in her Sternum glowed brightly, as she reached her hand up to it, and removed from it a blade that was well over a metre long, and almost as wide as his head. In the dim light of the gem, Rozhenko saw her warm smile turn to a smirk.

"You", she said, "are going to help us send a message…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone had a good Christmas/other winter holiday! You could unofficially call this chapter the end of 'Arc 1'. We're at the end of the setup phase, and the story is going to get into full swing from here on out. The next chapter should go up on the 30th. Until then, please do let me know what you think of the story so far. See you next chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

**Homeworld, capital city:**

Sevastien Azarov and his delegation stepped on-board the Gem transport that had been laid on to take them back to Earth. His face was the picture of calm composure as he said his goodbyes to the Gems who had managed their visit, but internally, his mind was in a state of utter chaos.

His agent hadn't met back up with them at any point during the tour, and was still conspicuously absent. Luckily, as Azarov had predicted, the Gems had taken so little notice of his security staff that none had noticed that Rozhenko was missing, but that didn't entirely solve the problem.

The agent had been notified in no uncertain terms that if he was not able to make it back by the visit's end, he would be left behind. Azarov wasn't prepared to answer the questions that would be raised by revealing his agent's existence in order to organise a search party.

As the ship lifted off from the capital city's main square, Azarov gazed out of the viewing port at the shrinking city below. Azarov hoped that, if Rozhenko _was_ still alive, he would have the good sense to take his own life rather than be discovered by the Gems.

**Beach City, Earth, 1 day later:**

Steven clambered lazily out of bed and headed down to get some breakfast. Ever since the corrupted Gems had been healed, he was always excited to get up in the morning, just to see who would be in the house that day. While some of the new arrivals had gone off to various locations to live (Nephrite and her crew had started renovating their old ship for instance), many of the Gems were still staying in newly created rooms in the temple, so the house was always busy these days.

As he walked down the stairs, he saw Bismuth and Biggs sat on the sofa, surrounded by his friends and a few Crystal Gems he didn't recognise. Biggs had apparently been one of the most well-liked Crystal Gems during the war, and it was easy to see why. She was even more outgoing and sociable than Bismuth.

Since she had come back, she had received several invitations from Gems to come and live with them, as well as more than a few requests to fuse. Today though, Biggs was regaling the group with some sort of heroic war story, stopping every once in a while to laugh loudly along with Bismuth at the funny parts.

As Steven passed them and headed to the kitchen, he saw Pearl busying herself making some tea, while Garnet monitored something in the oven. The two had taken it upon themselves to teach the other Gems about eating and drinking. Amethyst had volunteered to do this, but that idea was very quickly shot down.

As he poured himself some cereal, he glanced up at the painting of Rose that still sat on the front wall. He'd found his eye being drawn to it quite a lot lately.

"Still thinking about what happened?" Garnet asked from behind him. It wasn't often she asked questions, so Steven knew better than to ignore them.

"I guess so." Steven replied. It was true that being split into the two aspects of himself back on Homeworld just a short time ago had left a lingering impact on him. He turned to face Garnet.

"Y'know back when my Gem was removed, on Homeworld? Is it weird that I'm glad it turned into me, and not Pink Diamond?"

Garnet leaned down. "Of course not Steven. It's natural to be happy to find out that no one's controlling your actions; that you were always yourself" she said as she smiled back at him.

"That's… not what I meant." Steven replied sheepishly. "I wasn't just glad it **was me** , I was glad it **wasn't her** … After everything I found out about her, I kinda…didn't wanna see her." He looked up at Garnet apologetically, feeling sure he had just said something terrible.

Garnet's smile fell, but if she was more upset than that, she wasn't showing it. She began to stroke Steven's hair reassuringly. "That's understandable; you've probably got a lot of confusing emotions around her right now" she said, "but you know you don't have to keep calling her 'Pink Diamond', right?"

"Oh, yeah." Steven replied. "She probably would have preferred to be called 'Rose'."

"I meant… you could still call her 'Mom'." Garnet said softly.

This time it was Steven's face that fell. "I think I'm gonna stick with 'Rose' for now, if that's ok with you guys." Steven said as gently as possible.

"Whatever you feel comfortable with." Garnet replied, giving Steven a final attempt at a smile as he took his breakfast up to his room. He smiled back, but neither of them was hiding the awkwardness very well.

Steven sat at the end of his bed. "Why **do** I have so much trouble thinking of her as 'Mom' now?" He thought silently to himself. "The other Diamonds did way worse stuff than her, and I welcomed them into the family, right?"

He flipped on the TV. He felt like he could do with a little distraction. Just as he was getting to the middle of a good 'Crying Breakfast Friends' episode though, the TV began to flicker. Within a few seconds, the signal had cut out, and was replaced by a strange symbol. It was a multifaceted quartz gem not unlike his, but in black, with two swords crossed behind it.

"Uh, Guys?" Steven piped up: "I think you'd better come and see this."

Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, as well as Bismuth and Biggs' crowd of Gems, came scurrying over, and crowded onto the bed behind Steven.

"Yo, what's going on?" Amethyst said with a confused look.

"It's just like when Peridot transmitted that message using the communication hub" said Pearl. "Maybe some Gem is using a long-range communicator?"

It was at that moment that the image changed again. The static logo cut out, and was replaced by moving footage. It was unclear whether it was live or pre-recorded, but that was the last thing on anyone's minds. They were all far more focused on the face of the Gem that had appeared on the screen before them.

She was lounging almost causally in a chair made out of scrap metal. She was heavily built, yet feminine in outline. Her multifaceted gem glinted on her sternum, and a huge mane of hair fell down as far as the camera would show. With a malicious smirk, she began to speak:

"Peoples of Homeworld and Earth, I come before you today with an important message, but first, allow me to introduce myself."

"My name… is Rose Quartz."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well there we go; our villain is revealed. I'll take this opportunity to reiterate that this fic was written long before the movie or Steven Universe Future came out, so a lot of the stuff regarding the Rose Quartzes isn't going to line up with the show (although weirdly, a lot of it also DID line up with both Future and the movie, so if you see strange similarities between the ongoing plot and the events of the show, I promise it's a coincidence xD) Anyway, the fic should be back to its regular Wednesdays and Saturdays upload schedule from now on. Let me know what you think of the story do far, and I'll see you next chapter!


	8. Chapter 8

Steven stared aghast at the figure on the screen. He knew he shouldn't have been surprised at the sight of a Rose Quartz; after all, he'd seen hundreds of them bubbled in Pink's human zoo. After the corrupted Gems were healed, one of the first things the Diamonds did once they were back in Gem space was to free these Rose Quartzes, at Steven's request.

But still, actually _seeing_ one was more difficult than he had anticipated. And a quick glance around him revealed that the others felt the same way. Pearl had her hands clasped over her mouth, this time as an automatic reaction to shock, rather than as a result of her vow of secrecy to _her_ Rose. All the other Gems were just staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed. Steven allowed his gaze to flick back to the screen, and the unknown yet familiar Quartz that was projected on it.

Her face was slightly different than his mother's, and her gem was on her chest rather than her stomach, but she still looked so familiar. Her curled hair was like something straight out of the painting on his wall, and her big dark eyes were practically the same ones Steven saw in the mirror every morning.

After what felt like an eternity, but couldn't have been more than a couple of seconds, this other 'Rose Quartz' spoke again:

"By now you've all heard that Homeworld has opened diplomatic relations with a crystal system colony known as 'Earth'. The Diamonds would have you believe that Earth's people are our friends; that they mean us no harm. However, I emerged on Earth; saw the humans first-hand, and I know this to be a lie. They are a rebellious, corrupting influence that led Pink Diamond astray. And today, my fellow Gems, I present you with proof:"

The camera panned outward slightly, revealing a human, bound and on his knees next to her. He was a man in his thirties, dressed in a formal suit, and his face was somewhat bruised and bloodied.

Steven's heart was in his throat. What was a Human doing on Homeworld unannounced? Were the humans trying to do something behinds the Gems' backs? And how were the Gems going to react? The Diamonds hadn't tried to contact him; did they even know about this?

Looking down at the bound man, Rose Quartz began to speak again.

"This human was found infiltrating a secure facility, attempting to steal our technology to use it against us!"

She pulled open one side of his jacket to reveal several bags containing various Gem tools and components.

Reaching up to her gem, she pulled out a large sword; similar in design to the one Steven's mother had used. Bismuth must have based the design on an existing Quartz weapon. Pointing the weapon into her prisoner's back, Rose spoke directly to him.

"Mr Rozhenko, would you kindly like to tell us why you took these objects?" The man, 'Rozhenko' glared at her silently.

"Who do you work for?" she continued. "How much more of our technology do they have?" Again steely silence from Rozhenko. If he _was_ working for someone, his face wasn't giving it away, though Steven doubted that he could have acted alone.

"Not feeling talkative?" Rose said dismissively. "Such a shame." Sensing what was about to happen, Garnet reached forwards and covered Steven's eyes. With one swift lunge, Rose drove the sword through Rozhenko's back. For a brief instant, his previously stoic face shifted to a look of pure shock as he looked down at the blade tip emerging from his chest. Then the light faded from his eyes as he slumped face-down onto the crystalline floor.

While he was glad Garnet's hand had stopped him seeing it, Steven still had a pretty good idea what had just happened. He felt his stomach turn over as the sound filled his mind. He heard a couple of the Gems whimpering behind him.

The footage on the screen panned back up to Rose, and Garnet finally took her hands away from Steven's eyes. Trembling, he looked back at the screen as Rose continued, now with a malicious scowl on her face.

"This is the fate that will befall any human who tries to move against us! The Diamonds have grown soft; welcomed these… _creatures_ into our homes, offered them our secrets! But fear not fellow Gems; we will not allow ourselves to become weak like they have! There are still those on Homeworld who wish to make our empire perfect again! We are 'Facet 31'. We will not allow Earth to cause a second disaster in our planet's history. We _will_ prevent it."

The screen cut to static as the transmission ended. As the dull electronic sound played across the room, no-one even bothered to switch the machine off. They all just sat in stunned silence at what they'd just witnessed.

After an instant that seemed like an eternity, Steven turned to look up at Garnet. He opened his mouth to speak, but found he had no idea what to actually say. She pulled him into a hug as he whimpered softly.

Steven couldn't even understand why he felt so overpowered by this feeling. It almost felt the same as when Blue projected her sadness onto him; an inexplicable wave of emotion inside him that seemed to emerge without warning. This time though, the sadness was entirely his own. He'd thought that after seeing things like the fusion experiments, not much could shock him anymore, but somehow, it felt different when it was a human, rather than a Gem, that was exposed to cruelty. He felt guilty for even making that distinction.

Before anyone had a chance to say anything, every communication device in the house began ringing; all the phones, the Diamond Line communicator, even the wailing stone. As Pearl answered her mobile, and various Gems scrambled for the other devices, Steven did his best to steal himself and got up to take the call on the Diamond Line. Garnet stepped after him as he did.

"Steven, if you need a minute, I can take the call" she said sympathetically.

"No." Replied Steven. "I'll be fine." He was partially lying, but he knew he had a job to do. It was likely that every Government on Earth had received that transmission, as well as most of Homeworld.

They'd all be panicking, and he needed to calm them down before things got even worse…


	9. Chapter 9

**Immediately after Rose Quartz's transmission:**

**The White House, United States of America:**

James Dalton's mind was racing. His members of staff were running about like headless chickens, fielding constant phone calls from various panicked international officials. In a single message, this 'Rose Quartz' had thrown two planets into disarray. In the time since then, Dalton had received no word from the Diamonds. Had Earth been excommunicated in response to what this Russian had done? Or, perhaps more terrifyingly, did the fact that this message had been sent at all mean that the Diamonds had been overthrown?

A good few scenarios were too terrible to consider, so he focused on what _was_ within his influence. He had his staff begin drawing up a public statement to be made later that day, and then turned to bark an order to the nearest person within reach. "Get me Azarov, now."

**The Kremlin, Russia:**

Sevastien Azarov sat with his head in his hands. He had thought Rozhenko more skilled than to allow himself to be caught like that, and it had blown up in his face. While the agent had at least had the sense to stay silent to the end, it was still blatantly obvious where his orders had come from. Azarov's visit to Homeworld had been public knowledge, meaning the international community was now fully aware that _he_ was responsible for potentially radicalising a powerful alien race against them.

As the pager on his desk sounded, he lifted his head and answered it. "What?" he said irritably.

"Sir, you have a call coming through from the American president".

Azarov sighed. Time to try to salvage this disaster. "Put him through" he said.

**Yellow Diamond Control Room, Homeworld:**

Yellow sat rigidly at her console, seething with a mixture of rage and apprehension. She allowed her body to loosen up slightly only once she realised she was gripping the arm of her seat so tightly that it had begun to crack under her strength. She and the other Diamonds had taken Steven's advice and released the Rose Quartz, and _this_ was how they used their freedom? Taking action behind her back?!

Attempting to calm herself, she let out a deep breath, and then turned to her Pearl. After the Diamonds had agreed to begin reinventing Homeworld's society, Yellow had offered her Pearl the chance to go anywhere on Homeworld that she pleased, but the dainty Gem had expressed a desire to stay with her. Whether that was a genuine desire, or just the result of the extensive mental conditioning Pearls were made with, Yellow didn't know, but she valued still having her assistant around, especially in situations this tense.

"Pearl, try to trace that signal, and bring up the footage from all surveillance robonoids within range."

"Yes My Diamond" her Pearl said obligingly.

"Good, we'll need to-"

Yellow was cut off by the ringtone of her console. She answered the call, and Blue's face appeared on the monitor. Blue never had been one to handle pressure all that well, but today she looked particularly rattled. Before Yellow could get a word out, Blue started talking:

"Yellow, did you see that transmission?!"

"Of course I saw it Blue, it played on every monitor in this fragment". Yellow tried not to snap at Blue when she was obviously so distraught, but it _was_ a stupid question.

"Right, of course." Blue said apologetically. "What do you think we should do? We need to make some sort of statement to our Gems, but I don't know what we could say without making things worse."

As much as Yellow often rolled her eyes at Blue's defeatist attitude, this time she had a point. In the old days, any descent was met with immediate retribution, and a public statement was made making it clear that any other Gems who followed suit would be punished as well.

Now though, Homeworld was a different place. Although it had only been a few weeks since the Diamonds had started loosening their grip on the populace, a great many Gems had already come to enjoy their newfound freedoms. Yellow knew that if she gave the impression that those freedoms might start being curtailed again, she risked amplifying this rebellion to a planetary scale.

On the other hand, if she came across as too weak, and gave the impression she couldn't prevent the humans from breaking the terms of their peace agreement, she risked proving Rose Quartz right in the eyes of any Gems who might be on the fence.

After the millennia the Diamonds had spent demonising the Rose Quartz class, Yellow realised that there must have been many among the Gem people who would be inclined to view Rose as just as powerful and dangerous as any Diamond.

In any case, she had to stop second guessing herself. She had to try something. Calming herself as much as she could, she at last replied to Blue:

"I wish I could give you a concrete answer Blue. Come to my station and we'll put together a plan."

"Alright, I'll see you there" said Blue, deactivating her screen.

Before Yellow even had a chance to gather her thoughts, she heard a rumbling from outside. Walking over to her window, she got there just in time to see White's head ship taking off, and jumping to gravity drive.

"Hmm." Yellow said out loud involuntarily. White must have been going to get Steven involved. _"Without bothering to tell us"_ , Yellow finished the thought silently. It seemed that some old habits died hard. Still, perhaps it was good that she was fetching him. He seemed to have a knack for turning seemingly impossible odds into victories. Hopefully he had a better idea of how to fix this than she did…


	10. Chapter 10

**White House, USA/ Kremlin, Russia:**

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Dalton knew he wasn't being very diplomatic, but the time for that had passed. "Do you have any idea what might happen if you've turned the Gems against us?! Militarily, we don't have anything that can touch them. If they decide to go back to the way things were, we don't stand a chance!"

Azarov fixed him with a steely glare from the monitor. The Diamonds had provided them with translation technology shortly after the Beach City Conference, which meant this discussion could be held without translators. This, in turn, meant that they were able to do without the false politeness that usually typified these discussions.

"Everything I did, I did because I believed it would further my country's interests. I tried to gather intelligence on a powerful new neighbour, as any leader would do." Azarov finally replied.

"And how did that go for you?" Dalton snapped back.

Azarov had to admit he was right. He had never been particularly worried about Russia being unpopular on the world stage; that was just par for the course. However, there was only so much he was willing to damage his country's reputation for the sake of advancement, and this situation had long since crossed that line.

Before Azarov could put a retort together, a strange electronic ringtone sounded from both ends of the call. It was the communicators the Diamonds had given them following the conference.

For a moment, Dalton and Azarov just stared apprehensively at each other. Each could tell that the other was thinking the same thing: _"How much trouble are we in?"_ After all, there had been no news from Homeworld since the Facet 31 broadcast. They didn't even know for sure if they were being called by the Diamonds, or by Rose Quartz.

Overcoming their trepidation, they simultaneously activated the devices. A second screen appeared on each of their monitors, as their call was patched into the Diamond Line. They were relieved when the face that appeared on the screen was that of White Diamond, closely followed by Steven, after he clambered onto her shoulder. As soon as Steven was safely in place, White started talking:

"Ah, Mr Dalton, Mr Azarov, good that you're both here. We need to act quickly to defuse this 'Facet 31' situation. I'd like you both to come to Beach City as soon as possible, preferably discreetly."

Dalton wasn't sure if what he was hearing was good or bad news. When he had seen that it was White on the line, he assumed that that meant the situation on Homeworld was under control, but if she was organising meetings in secret, perhaps the mood on Homeworld was turning against humanity, or against her, after all.

Still, the fact that she was with Steven at least proved that Rose Quartz's sentiments weren't shared by the Diamonds, and the fact that she was even talking to Azarov suggested that she hadn't been severely offended by his agent's actions. It was enough to put Dalton at least slightly at ease.

"Of course Your Clarity" he said, using Homeworld's formal honorific in the hopes of appearing as diplomatic as possible. "We'll both be there as soon as we can. Won't we Sevastien?" Azarov looked irritated at having been spoken for, but, realising the situation he was in, managed a disgruntled "Agreed."

And so, both international leaders arranged discreet passage to Beach City, all the way dreading what news they might hear when they got there.

**Beach City, Delmarva, one day later:**

Dalton stood on the pleasant sandy beach outside the bizarre temple that the Crystal Gems called home. Around him stood Steven, White, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. They watched as Azarov's helicopter landed a few feet away, White shielding them from the sand it was kicking up.

Azarov had had a much longer journey than Dalton, so there had been some time before his arrival for Dalton to get up to speed on the situation. He knew now that the Diamonds were still in control of Homeworld, but that there was a significant portion of the population who would be sympathetic to Rose Quartz's cause.

If what he knew about the Diamonds' history was accurate, their Gems had revered them almost like gods up until very recently, when Steven had convinced them to transform Homeworld's society, and they had begun to counteract their own propaganda. Ironically, that positive step put them in a weaker position now. No Quartz would have dared start a rebel faction on the old Homeworld, but Rose Quartz had evidently perceived this new wave of democracy as a show of weakness. As dire as the situation was, Dalton had to smirk at the irony of it all.

Once Azarov had disembarked, and had been welcomed by White and Steven, he too was brought up to speed. He expressed some concern that White was spending time on Earth when the situation on Homeworld required a strong presence, but was reassured when he was told that Yellow and Blue had remained there to hold the fort.

As the group were about to head inside Steven's house to begin hashing out a plan of action, a Gem flew towards them from the direction of Beach City, shouting Steven's name as she approached.

Her skin, eyes and hair were various shades of blue, her monochrome look broken only by the whites of her eyes and the tiny patches of gold on her sandals and trousers. On her back sat transparent wings that appeared to be made out of water. From what little Dalton could see of her face, she looked visibly panicked.

"Lapis!" Exclaimed Steven. "What's wrong?"

"You might wanna come into the city." Lapis replied with a concerned look. "There's this group of humans acting really strange..."


	11. Chapter 11

As Lapis led the way, the group quickly followed her; Dalton and Azarov doing their best to hide their faces in their coat collars. White had stayed behind at the temple, at Lapis' suggestion. They soon found out why. Arriving at the outskirts of Beach City, they quickly noticed what she had brought them there for; Steven and Dalton's hearts sinking in unison at the sight.

Standing in front of them was a wall of people, yelling angrily, and carrying signs bearing various less-than-savoury remarks about Gems. Facing the crowd was a small group of men in suits and dark glasses, forming a barricade to prevent the throng from moving forwards. Behind the men was a very short, dark-skinned woman, stood on top of a van, shouting into a megaphone:

"Attention everyone: please disperse. These Gems have done nothing to you."

" _Gems?_ " Steven thought to himself. He moved round so he could see behind Nanefua, and was confronted with the sight of a group of uncorrupted Gems cowering on the ground. Some bore small scuff marks on their bodies. While Gems didn't get injured in the same way humans did, it was pretty clear they'd been attacked.

Steven couldn't believe what he was seeing. Had this mob actually attacked his friends? These Gems hadn't done anything. They hadn't even been on Homeworld when Rose Quartz sent her message. Who would do something like this?

Peeping in between Nanefua's guards, he looked out at the mob. He was relieved to see that he didn't recognise anyone he knew from Beach City among them. These people must have come from the neighbouring cities. The conference had made it public knowledge that a lot of Gems called this city home, so they could have found out that way. Still, he found it upsetting that _any_ humans would do this.

Despite Nanefua's attempts to calm the crowd, things only seemed to be getting worse. A few of the Gems had steadied themselves, and now seemed more angry than scared. They had stood up between the mob and those Gems who were still on the ground, and many had summoned their weapons. Steven knew he had to step in. He didn't have a perfect solution, but he couldn't just stand there and do nothing. Pushing through the onlookers, he jumped onto the roof of a nearby shop and yelled as loudly as he could:

"Stop!"

That got peoples' attention. He had found he was able to shout quite a bit louder than he used to since recombining his human and Gem halves a few weeks prior. That, coupled with his sudden appearance on the roof, finally put all eyes on him. Now he just needed to figure out what to say.

He looked around at the faces beneath him. The mob of humans were all complete strangers, so clearly the whole "you both love me" shtick wasn't going to work this time. So, he spoke with mostly the Gems in mind:

"Please. We don't need to fight. I know what Rose Quartz did was bad, and a lot of you are scared…"

It hurt to be saying something like this again. He was talking about a different Rose Quartz this time, but it reminded him of just how many times in recent months he'd felt the need to apologise for something his mother had done.

"but this isn't going to solve anything. Nobody here was on Homeworld when… when that video was made." He couldn't bring himself to say "when that man was killed", and everyone there already knew, so he spared himself the discomfort.

"These Gems aren't out to get you just because Rose Quartz is; they're just living their lives" He said, looking imploringly at the crowd of humans. Then, turning to the Gems, he continued: "and these humans aren't evil; they're just scared. Wouldn't you be if you'd seen something like that?"

Steven was making some progress with the Gems. Some, looking a little ashamed, had started to dematerialise their weapons. He was having less luck with the humans, some of whom were now trying to shout over him again. He'd sort of expected that, since none of them knew him the way the Gems did, but he'd hoped some of them might listened. Were they really not going to settle for anything other than violence?

The shouting turned into an uproar, now turned as much against him as against the Gems. Some of the crowd were yelling:

"That's the kid who was with the giant one. He's with them!"

"I bet he's just one o' them in disguise!"

"Get your freaky alien friends off our planet!"

From the side-lines, Dalton was just about losing his cool. He'd seen a lot of protests, riots, and so on since taking office, and he'd learned to harden himself to them. But there was something about seeing this boy being ganged up on like this that summoned anger in him he just couldn't suppress.

He knew Steven was part Gem, and had somehow stared down the Diamonds and won, but the boy stood up on that roof right now looked as vulnerable and scared as any other child. _"Alright,"_ he thought to himself _"time to stop sitting on the fence."_

A man at the front of the mob had become the main mouthpiece for their anger, and was now spouting angry questions: "Who let these things into our country?! Why aren't they contained?! Why haven't they been sent back home?!"

"They're here sir, because I'm allowing them to be here!" Dalton boomed defiantly as he emerged from the crowd of onlookers, handing his coat to a dumbstruck Azarov as he walked forwards. Nanefua stood with a stunned look on her face, then, after whispering back and forth with a guard for a moment, tossed him the megaphone. He gave her an obliging nod, climbed up onto the van, and began to speak:

"Let me ask you something: What do you think this is gonna accomplish? You **could** drag these Gems out onto the street and take out your anger on them, but then what? What will happen when you go home? Or go to work tomorrow? Or the next day? Are you gonna feel any safer because of what you've done here?

The Gem who means us harm isn't buying fries on a boardwalk, or hanging around an arcade; she's cowering in a bunker on Homeworld. Let me ask you: if any of these Gems meant you harm like she does, don't you think they could've done it already?"

Dalton seemed to be getting results. Good portions of the mob were looking considerably less sure of themselves. He decided he should continue:

"When William Dewey founded this city over 200 years ago, he came from far-off shores, and was almost turned away when he arrived. But he stayed, and as a result, this city and those around it are thriving communities today."

Dalton knew he was laying it on a bit thick, but he also knew this stuff played well with the public at large. And judging by the amount of people now filming him on their phones, the public at large was certainly going to see it.

"These Gems; these **people** , want the same thing. They came here seeking a new home. What kind of people would we be if he didn't offer them a chance to make one? Humanity has spent centuries looking to the stars, dreaming of encountering new life, and now we finally have. And what are we doing? Trying to get rid of it. I ask you, in years to come, won't we be judged by how we treated that life?"

And so Dalton went on, speaking for as long as he could. He definitely repeated himself a few times, but he didn't care. The longer he could keep going, the more the situation would cool down. While only a few of the mob actually seemed to have been won over by his speech, the others were gradually filing away anyway, perhaps sensing that their opportunity to soapbox had passed.

Finally, as the sun set over the horizon, Dalton said his thank-yous and goodbyes to the now much smaller crowd, and handed the megaphone back to Nanefua. The crowd began wandering away, and Dalton looked down towards Steven, who was now huddled with his friends on the beach. The two gave each other an appreciative smile.

The coming days and weeks were going to be a struggle. If they were going to get through this, they were going to need each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're back. Sorry this chapter didn't go up on Saturday like it was supposed to; I honestly just completely forgot to upload it. How are you guys enjoying the story so far? Don't hesitate to let me know; I love reading the comments. See you next chapter. :)


	12. Chapter 12

**Crystal Gem Temple, the next morning:**

Dalton clambered out of bed. After yesterday's events, everyone had agreed they needed a rest, so he and Azarov had stayed the night with the Crystal Gems, in a room that had somehow conjured a couple of spare beds into existence. Not exactly how he was used to spending diplomatic visits, but then, it seemed nothing involving Gems was going to be what he was used to.

He hadn't been planning to be there overnight; the riot the previous day had somewhat lengthened his trip, so he'd had to sleep in his suit. Rubbing his eyes, he headed to the bathroom to freshen up. He passed Azarov as he went, who gave him a brief nod. Apparently Dalton's speech the previous day had earned at least a grudging respect from the man. Whether that was because he agreed with the sentiment or because he respected Dalton's ability to play the crowd wasn't clear, but it was a start.

Closing the bathroom door, Dalton plodded over to the mirror and stared himself in the face. Overnight the reality of what he'd done had begun to hit him. His speech had certainly cooled the situation in the short term, but now there were going to be a lot of international leaders wanting to know why he'd been meeting with the Gems without consulting them. Beach City was American territory, so he was well within his rights, but it certainly didn't make him look good.

Not to mention how the public might react. It wasn't yet certain where the public mood sat regarding the Gems. People tended to get antsy after events like Rose Quartz's transmission. Dalton knew full well that he may have cost himself the next election, but that wasn't bothering him as much as he'd thought it would. His position felt pretty insignificant compared to the galactic scale of politics he was now dealing in.

Splashing some water on his face, he felt the beginnings of wrinkles around his eyes. "Yep." He said to himself. "This is definitely gonna make me go grey."

* * *

Steven walked downstairs just as he had done the previous morning. Today though, he was decidedly on edge. After all, what was to say that Rose wouldn't decide to make another 'statement'? His heart lifted a little when he noticed the morning's visitors. Today it was Nephrite and her crew.

There were eight of them in total, so the place was a bit packed. They were scattered all around the house; some chatting to Garnet, Amethyst or Pearl; some fiddling with random household appliances. Two of them were sat on the sofa, cuddling each other lovingly. They'd embraced each other in the pool after they were cured of corruption, and had barely taken their hands off each other since.

'His' Nephrite was sat at the kitchen counter. Steven still struggled to call her by her name, but he didn't want to call her 'Centi' in case it reminded her of her corrupted form. Her face lit up as she saw him, and she gave him a wave. Smiling back, he wandered over to her.

"Hey Nephrite! How're you doing?"

"Oh, I'm doing great." The one-eyed Gem replied. "The others and I were worried sick yesterday, but we feel much better now those awful humans are gone."

Truthfully, Steven was much happier with the angry mob gone too, but he didn't really like how she was talking.

"Hey now, I wouldn't go so far as awful." He said, trying to calm her down. "Those people were just acting that way because they were scared."

Nephrite didn't look convinced. "And is being scared a good enough reason to drag Gems out into the street and attack them? If my crew and I hadn't been back at our ship, they probably would have done it to us too!" She exclaimed, looking off into the distance, clearly scaring herself with her own mental image.

"Humans are usually better than that." Said Steven. "Everyone can do bad things when they're scared or angry. That's basically the whole reason the Gem War happened."

"Oh Steven, of course you'd say that, you're…" Nephrite stopped mid-sentence, perhaps reconsidering what she wanted to say.

"I'm what?" Steven asked, now getting confused.

"Well… y'know… half human." Said Nephrite sheepishly. "You were always going to be soft on them, you grew up around them. You wouldn't know any better".

Now Steven was starting to get annoyed. "Hey. I'm not being soft on the humans. I'm half Gem too y'know. Am I wrong when I tell them that _you guys_ aren't as bad as they think?"

"That's different. You _know_ me, and the other bubbled Gems. You don't know a bunch of random humans. You can't promise me they aren't violent".

Steven was struggling to keep his composure now. "Maybe not, but you can't just believe somebody's bad just because of what they are! I may be half Gem, but I grew up on Earth. Am I bad just because of that?!"

"Of course you're not bad Steven." Nephrite said defensively. "You're not like most humans. You're one of th-"

"One of the good ones." Steven finished her sentence for her. He couldn't hide the anger from his face, and felt tears beginning to form in his eyes.

Nephrite opened her mouth to speak again, but stopped short, having no idea what to say next. She felt bad for how she'd made him feel, but she couldn't think of anything meaningful to say. Finally she mumbled "I'm sorry, I…I'll just head home for now."

Nephrite walked quickly out of the house, some of her crew looking on in surprise. Steven didn't try to stop her. He wasn't sure he could talk to her right now anyway.

Besides, he had other things he needed to focus on. Looking out of the window, he saw White emerging from her Ship, and knew that Dalton and Azarov would be ready soon too. It was almost time for their meeting to come up with a plan for dealing with the Facet 31 situation. If they were going to get anything done, they needed his full attention.

Wiping the tears from his eyes, he composed himself, and headed out to meet White. It was time to get to work…


	13. Chapter 13

**Crystal Gem Temple, Steven's room:**

Steven, The Crystal Gems, Dalton, and Azarov sat around a small table. Surrounding them was the pleasant pink expanse of clouds that made up Steven's Gem room. After the riot that had taken place the previous day, and the arrival of the flock of reporters who had made their way to Beach City following Dalton's speech, they had decided it would be better to hold the meeting indoors. White sat behind Steven, unable to fit her massive body into a place at the table.

Seeing that everyone had got themselves seated, Steven stood up from his own seat, and piped up: "Okay everyone. This meeting is to decide how we deal with the 'Facet 31' situation. I know everyone is going to have some thoughts on this, so I hope we can find a solution that works for all of us; on Homeworld, and Earth." Everyone gave a polite nod to the sentiment.

Azarov spoke first. He was speaking In Russian, but those around the table could understand him perfectly, thanks to a small Gem translator on his lapel:

"The way I see it," he said "there are two different decisions to make here: how we act publicly, and how we act privately."

Dalton couldn't help but roll his eyes slightly. Typical Russian. No, typical _politician_ , he corrected himself, remembering that a good few people he knew back home would have focused on the same thing Azarov had.

And he had to admit, Azarov had a point. Dealing with Facet 31 was all well and good, but not if doing so permanently jeopardised relations between Homeworld and Earth, and stirred up more of the sort of prejudice that had led to the riot the day before. If they were able to act in a way that smoothed this issue over in the eyes of the public, and prevented either side from becoming any more distrustful, that would be beneficial.

"I agree", said Pearl, nodding in agreement with Azarov's statement. "Doing anything too major out in the open might cause a panic."

Throughout the time she'd been on Earth, Pearl had been the most reluctant of the Gems to allow the humans to become involved in, or even aware of, the Crystal Gems' activities. Garnet had been a bit disapproving of her distrust of humans, but had largely gone along with her attempts to preserve their secrecy, accepting that public knowledge of the Gems might cause more trouble than it was worth.

Even though the Gems were now out in the open, and she had been opening up to humans a lot in recent months, Pearl still felt that there were some things the human population at large didn't need to know.

"All right, agreed" said Dalton, conceding to the majority. "So, what should our story be?"

All the Gems in the room turned to look at Steven. Dalton had noticed them do this more than once during the first conference. When he had arrived there, he had been told that White was the ruler of Homeworld, and that Garnet the leader of the Crystal Gems, and yet the Gems seemed inclined to defer to Steven for a lot of big decisions. He wondered just how major the boy's role in reforming Homeworld had been, for them all to value his opinion so highly.

Noticing that all eyes were on him, Steven started to speak:

"Well, we need to do something that will reassure the humans that they're gonna be kept safe, but also doesn't makes the Gems in Beach City feel like they're being ganged up on."

"So I assume that sending the Gems back to Homeworld until the crisis is over is out of the question?" asked Azarov.

"YES!" Everyone else at the table replied simultaneously. Azarov seemed rattled, probably because White had yelled too, but quickly calmed himself and muttered "Ok then."

"We could ask them to remain in Beach City for the time being." Dalton suggested.

Steven thought for a moment, then replied: "But that would make it seem like we're restricting their freedom. Most of them are Crystal Gems. They literally joined a rebellion to fight for their freedom. It might make it seem like we're no better than the Diamonds were." White looked down at her feet, looking ashamed for a moment, and then nodded at Steven.

"I understand that" Dalton countered, "but I don't see that we have much other choice. If they go out beyond Beach City, we can't guarantee their safety. And you can bet that another attack is going to panic them a hell of a lot more than being confined to a city that they've all chosen to live in anyway."

Steven had to admit, Dalton had a point. As long as the humans and Gems were so scared of each other, the best thing to do was to keep them apart until they could calm the situation down; the exception being the citizens of Beach City of course, who had already accepted the Gems.

He looked at each of his Gem friends, who all nodded at him, before turning back to Dalton. "Alright" said Steven. "We'll get the message out to the other Gems once we're done here."

"Good, that just leaves us with the issue of what we're doing behind-the-scenes to counter this 'Facet 31' group." Azarov piped up.

"The Gems and I have an idea for that" said Steven. "We're going to send a small team to Homeworld; just me, Connie, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, to try to track down Rose Quartz."

Dalton and Azarov were taken aback. Dalton shot back "You can't seriously be suggesting that you're just going to go and find the leader of a terrorist group without any backup!"

Garnet spoke up. "If we bring too many people, especially humans, that's only gonna make the Gems on Homeworld feel more threatened. Rose Quartz might be able to spin it into some sort of attack. We need to be subtle."

"Besides" Steven chimed in, "most of Homeworld still sees me as one of the Diamonds. They'll trust me, right White?" He looked up at her, genuinely not knowing how she was going to answer.

"Yes, I think so" said White. "I've been in contact with Yellow and Blue. They're managing to keep a lid on the tensions on Homeworld for now. A good proportion of the empire will still follow the lead of a Diamond."

"Alright, fine" said Azarov. "And when you find Rose Quartz, I take it you'll neutralise her?"

"No" replied Steven. "I have to believe that there's another way. I have to at least try to convince her that humans aren't a threat. Maybe she just panicked because of your agent, or maybe she was planning this for a long time. I don't know, but I won't learn anything unless I talk to her."

Azarov rolled his eyes, amazed at the boy's naiveté, but he was good enough at reading the room to tell that everyone else was prepared to side with Steven, so he relented. "Fine, get your team ready. I only hope you don't get us all killed."

Steven gave him a confident nod, and stood up from the table. Everyone else followed him, and filed out of the room.

Picking up the phone, he dialled in Connie's number. After only a few weeks back on Earth, they were about to go back to Homeworld…


	14. Chapter 14

**Maheswaran residence:**

Connie picked up the phone, and listened intently as Steven explained the plan to her.

She always got more than a little excited whenever Steven called, because it was almost sure to lead to some sort of adventure. She felt a little guilty about this, since it usually also meant that the Earth was in danger, but even when that was the case, she couldn't fully suppress the buzz of anticipation that came with it. It was no different this time. She and the others were going to be heading back to Homeworld; and in search of the leader of a dangerous rebel group no less!

Connie tried to push the excitement to the back of her mind; this was serious. She hadn't seen the transmission by Rose Quartz a couple of days previously, but it had been all over the news since then, and Steven had brought her up to speed on anything that wasn't public knowledge. She knew that a man had died, and it was possible that more people would if she and Steven didn't do something.

"Alright" she said down the phone, "I'll be there as soon as I can Steven." Putting the phone down, she turned to leave the room, only to find her mother standing in the doorway, looking forlorn.

"You're going to do something insane again, aren't you?" Priyanka said, an unmistakable tone of sadness creeping into her voice. Over the past few months, she had become accustomed to Connie disappearing off on mad adventures with her friend Steven.

She knew she couldn't stop her, and she had every reason to trust that Steven's guardians would keep her safe; they always had in the past. And yet, it still felt like someone was ripping out her heart every time she watched her daughter run headlong into danger.

After what had happened a few weeks ago, Connie had been so happy, talking non-stop about the reformation of the Diamonds and the healing of the corrupted Gems. Priyanka had thought that the danger might finally be over; that her little girl wouldn't have to fight any more. Clearly that wasn't the case.

"I'm going to help Steven if that's what you mean" replied Connie with the tiniest hint of irritation. She knew that her mother was only looking out for her, but her lack of support for this part of her life was wearing her patience thin.

Priyanka sighed. "Look, Connie, I know how much you want to help him, but how long is this going to go on? You've done this multiple times now, and every time you've almost been killed. Sooner or later the Gems aren't going to manage to protect you."

Connie was getting frustrated. "I can protect myself mom. That was the whole point of training with Pearl and Steven. Besides, you can't just expect me to sit around here while I know Steven's going to be in danger!"

Priyanka let out a second, longer sigh; one that communicated resignation rather than frustration. "I know I can't stop you either way, but I hope you realise how terrifying it is for your father and I when you're off doing something dangerous."

Connie's face softened. "I know mom." She walked over and hugged her mother. "I promise I'll come back safe." They smiled and nodded at each other briefly, before Connie released her grip and went to get ready. "I wish you _could_ promise that" Priyanka thought silently to herself.

Ever since the events on the jungle moon, Connie had learnt to pack well for these trips. After a few minutes in her room she emerged carrying her sword and wearing a backpack full of supplies, and opened the front door.

Lion was sat there expectantly. Steven must have sent him to pick her up. As she clambered onto his back, she took a last look at her house, and at her mother, who was waving from the front window. Connie waved back, and then turned to look ahead with a determined smile. Lion roared a portal into life in front of them, and dashed forwards into it.

**Beach City:**

Steven, White, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were stood around White's head ship when Connie and Lion emerged from the portal beside them. Dalton and Azarov were stood a few metres behind them, and by this point had seen so much over the past few days that not even a magical teleporting lion was enough to surprise them.

"You ready to go?" said Steven, turning to face Connie as she climbed down from Lion's back.

"Yeah, all set" she replied. "Hopefully we won't need this much food this time though" she said, gesturing to her stuffed backpack. She and Steven let out a brief chuckle, though they both knew she hadn't been joking.

Dalton walked up to Steven. "Good luck out there kid. I hope you're right in thinking Rose Quartz'll listen to reason."

"I've never met a Gem who didn't" replied Steven, smiling up at him. Steven knew this wasn't strictly true, remembering a particularly psychotic Ruby he'd once met; but he decided it was best to leave that unmentioned for now.

"We're ready to head off whenever you are" said White, who had been preparing her ship.

"Ok then" Steven replied. "Let's go."

A large white bubble formed around everyone except Dalton and Azarov, and lifted the team into the forehead of White's ship. Seconds later, the ship lifted off, ascended high above the temple, and jumped to gravity drive.

Watching it go, Dalton and Azarov gave each other a grim look. Whether Steven's team succeeded or not, the next few days were not going to be pleasant for either of them. The international community was jumping down their throats for meeting with the Crystal Gems in secret, and they were both going to have a hell of a time justifying this mission to their allies.

Looking wistfully to the sky one last time, Dalton thought to himself: "I hope this kid's all he's cracked up to be…"


	15. Chapter 15

**Facet 31 hideout, unknown location on Homeworld:**

Rose Quartz, leader of Facet 31, stood in front of a large mirror, admiring her new reflection.

"How do you feel?" asked her second-in-command from behind her. She was also a Rose Quartz, though her skin was darker pink, her face slightly more rounded, and her gem on the back of her left hand.

"Like a new Gem", replied Rose with a smirk. She had had her second-in-command poof her a few hours earlier, so that she could reform in an appearance better fitting her new role. She hadn't changed her body at all, but her old pink jumpsuit had now been replaced with a black version, bearing the Facet 31 insignia where the Pink Diamond symbol had once been.

Up until now, all the members of Facet 31 had retained their old uniforms, for the sake of not being discovered, but Rose felt that it was now safe to take on the mantle publicly. Her message had spread like a wildfire across Homeworld. There was every indication that a large proportion of the empire was sympathetic to their cause. They would not have to hide much longer.

Rose turned away from the mirror to look out at the Gems milling around the hideout. Making a base in one of the disused underground kindergartens which littered Homeworld had been an inspired idea. Not only was it practical, as no one ever came down here anymore, but it was also symbolic. What better place for Homeworld's rebirth to begin than where many of its inhabitants were born in the first place?

As she looked around the main chamber, she saw that some of the other senior members of Facet 31 were likewise taking in their new looks. Rose had been surprised how unfazed they had been when they were asked to poof themselves, though she realised she probably shouldn't have been. After millennia living under the Diamonds, not to mention the other… _indignities_ many of them had been subjected to since the start of the war, being poofed didn't scare them anymore.

Yes; they were stronger now. Strong enough to punish the ones who had taken everything from them. And unlike the Diamonds or their pathetic rebel allies, they hadn't needed a bunch of organics from a tiny colony world to help them find that strength.

Rose was shaken out of her inner monologue when she noticed one Gem that stood out from the others. Not because of their Gem type or anything; while Facet 31 had a large population of Rose Quartzes, it also had Gems of just about every other kind, who had been recruited in secret over the past few weeks. No, this Gem stood out because, rather than sharing the determined grins of the other members around her, she wore an extremely nervous expression.

Leaving her second in command behind, Rose walked over to the Gem, and knelt down to speak to her at her height:

"What's troubling you, Sapphire?" Rose asked mainly out of courtesy, though she thought she already had a pretty good idea. They were, after all, gearing up for a potential fight, and Sapphires were no soldiers.

The dainty blue Gem looked up at Rose in fright, evidently having been so lost in thought that she hadn't seen her approach.

"R-Rose Quartz. Nothing ma'am, I await your instructions."

Rose sighed, and smiled at her. "I'm not a Diamond, Sapphire. I don't expect, or want, blind obedience. If there's something bothering you, I'd like to help." This wasn't an entirely altruistic offer. Rose was as much concerned with making sure this Sapphire wasn't going to be a weak link as she was with allaying her fears.

Still, whatever her reasons, her response had the desired effect. Visibly relaxing, the Sapphire took a deep breath, and spoke again:

"It's just… I've grown accustomed to being able to see exactly what's going to happen… but that only works if the future remains predictable. The idea that I would turn against my Diamond-"

Rose raised her had briefly, and the Sapphire stopped speaking. "None of that, Sapphire. We did not betray our Diamonds; our Diamonds betrayed us."

"Yes, of course" said the Sapphire, before continuing. "The idea that my Diamond would betray _me_ , and I would end up joining a group of rebels… it's so unexpected. I'm finding it hard to see anything right now."

Now Rose understood. The days ahead were going to be unpredictable for everyone. But for a Sapphire, who was used to having her whole life mapped out in front of her, it would feel like losing one's sense of touch, or hearing, or… sight.

She reached out and, as gently as her massive, muscular frame allowed her to, pulled back the Sapphire's fringe, revealing a single large Gem where her eye would otherwise have been. It was only now that Rose noticed that the Sapphire had one hand pressed against the wall, presumably to help position herself.

"I see" said Rose gently. "Your future vision was all you had, and without it you feel lost."

The Sapphire's lip quivered as she nodded, though she didn't push Rose's hand away.

"That's understandable, but you don't need to worry. I promise you that your vision of the future will become crystal clear again. You know why? Because no matter how unpredictable the future is right now, the others and I are going to make sure it turns out the way we want. And until then… we can be all the direction you need."

The Sapphire broke into a smile, and looked as though she was about to cry (or rather, would be, if she had an eye). Releasing her grip from the wall, she clasped her tiny hands around a single one of Rose's.

"Thank you Rose Quartz" she said, an emotional tremble creeping into her voice. "I think I'll be fine now."

"Glad to hear it" Rose replied. Even though she now knew that the Sapphire couldn't see her, she smiled anyway. "I've got to go finish up the preparations. We'll talk again soon." The Sapphire nodded in reply, and Rose turned and walked off to her next task.

As the Quartz walked away, Sapphire felt her mind ever so slowly begin to clear. The seemingly endless amount of futures in front of her began to dwindle in number. There were just about few enough now that she could physically see some of the details. In most of them, she and Rose stood atop the highest tower on Homeworld, surrounded by all of Facet 31; with their weapons raised in victory. In some of them, the Diamonds lay bubbled, or shattered at their feet. And in just a few, which seemed to peek out from behind the other visions, Sapphire was happily wrapped in Rose's arms…

* * *

Rose walked down one of the long passageways carved into the kindergarten, and emerged in a room crammed with consoles and monitors; stolen from the Diamonds' bases for use in surveillance. As she did, a Peridot with a Gem on her abdomen jogged over to her from one of the consoles.

"Rose Quartz, one of our agents on board an orbital roaming eye has confirmed that White Diamond's ship has entered orbit."

Rose gave a broad, wicked smirk. White Diamond had surely brought some of the Crystal Gems. And if they were here, so too was Pink Diamond. And this time, Pink was going to pay for what she'd done to her…


	16. Chapter 16

**United Nations Security Council's chamber, New York:**

James Dalton allowed his gaze to wander around the council chamber, being careful not to let his nervousness register on his face. The conference table was surrounded by various international leaders, no doubt each waiting for their chance to grill him on what had transpired over the last few days.

Meeting with Steven and White Diamond without consulting the international community was always going to have been an unpopular move, but Dalton and Azarov both felt it had been the right call. In the chaos that followed Rose Quartz's transmission, there hadn't been time to even consult the other leaders, much less plan a meeting. Every hour they wasted was an hour that Facet 31 could use to radicalise more Gems, and put more human lives at risk.

And so, both leaders had given their blessing to Steven's low-profile mission to Homeworld. If they were going to get raked over the coals now, so be it.

As the last of the leaders took their seats, the talking from those already seated died down. "Alright then, let's get this over with" said a somewhat disgruntled looking woman from the other end of the table.

Marie Bujold was the current French President. She was a severe yet attractive woman, a good head shorter than most of the people seated around the table, and currently wearing a scowl that she was making no effort to disguise.

Thanks to the Gem tech each of them wore, those present could tell what she was saying without the aid of translators, but Dalton suspected that wouldn't help matters. Thus far, the ability to understand each other hadn't made it any easier to _understand_ each other.

He found it more than a little ironic that everyone in the room was motivated in some way by their fear of the Gems, while simultaneously making use of their technology without a second thought. After all, while some of the antipathy aimed at him was because of his admitted breach of international protocol, another large part of it was undoubtedly the fear that Steven's mission would provoke some retaliation from Facet 31. They were directing their anger at Azarov and himself in order to vent their own feelings of helplessness.

He snapped himself out of this train of thought as Bujold began speaking directly to him:

"President Dalton" she began, "we've all read your explanation of your actions in Beach City, and, while it is your right to make determinations regarding the fate of Gems living on US soil, I must state in no uncertain terms that France will **not** be excluded from the decision-making process again."

He found it remarkable how well she was composing her statement, despite her barely contained rage. He knew he should probably be focusing more on his own reply than her words, but years in politics had taught him to instinctively psychoanalyse anyone sitting opposite him.

"President Bujold, I can assure you the decision to meet with White Diamond was not taken lightly, and was done in the interests of preventing what I deemed would be a national emergency. Also, I'd remind you that it was White Diamond herself who requested that the meeting be restricted to the US and Russia."

"That is precisely what worries me" Bujold shot back. "These 'Gems' possess incredible power, and we have only their assurance that they won't use it to bring us harm. And now, we have a human citizen _murdered_ by a Gem, and the Gem leaders meeting in secret with two nations exclusively. Tell me, Mr Dalton, wouldn't _you_ be suspicious if you were viewing this from the outside?"

Dalton had to admit that he would. If White had elected to meet with Azarov alone, he would probably have assumed that something untoward was going on. Still, he knew he had to defend his point.

"Madame President, all international leaders reserve the right to request private meetings with their allies. You and I have had many discussions to which the rest of our colleagues here were not privy. We all agreed to extend that right to the Diamonds at the Beach City conference."

"That may be true" replied another voice; that of Richard Cowell, the British Prime Minister. "However, it's a different matter when we're dealing with a superpower on the level of the Gems. A discussion the United States might have with Britain wouldn't be viewed with the same curiosity as one you'd have with China or Russia, for instance. Homeworld is powerful enough to be an era-defining ally, or enemy, to every country on Earth. Any interaction with them has huge ramifications."

Dalton rebutted the Prime Minister's concerns, and those that followed from the other present leaders, as best he could. Though essentially all he could do was assert America's right to make the decision, and offer some platitudes about including its allies more in future. The Chinese president remained strangely silent throughout, evidently content with observing, knowing that all his concerns were already being included in the others' questions.

After a few more rounds of questioning, the council evidently decided it was Azarov's turn to be grilled, and turned their attention to him. He had been dismissive of the notion that Russia had to justify its actions to anyone, but had attended this meeting to ensure that he wasn't left out of any future contact with the Gems. He knew he would be considered a liability after his agent had incited the Facet 31 incident, and he wasn't about to let his one link to Homeworld slip from his grasp. So, he sat, and took the questions as Dalton had done.

Now that the attention was off him, Dalton took the time to collect his thoughts. For the hundredth time that day, his eyes darted back to the clock on the chamber wall. It had now been almost 18 hours since he had seen Steven's group off, as they left for Homeworld. Even at the mind-boggling speeds at which Gem ships travelled, crossing galaxies took a while. "You'd better get there soon" he thought to himself, "because there's a limit to how long I can hold things together down here..."


	17. Chapter 17

**Homeworld:**

White's ship touched down in its usual resting place in Homeworld's capital city. Some of the nearby Gems stared as it landed, but most went about their daily business. In the weeks since Steven had last been to Homeworld, the populous had become used to White moving around more often, though they did still seem surprised whenever they saw her in person.

Inside White's chamber, Steven watched the city outside from a viewscreen that hovered in front of him. Somewhere out there was Rose Quartz; the one who had started all of this. He had to find her. Maybe there was still a chance he could talk some sense into her.

No-one on the ship had been optimistic about that possibility after what she'd done to that Russian agent, but White had reminded them that she herself had shattered a lot of Gems in her time, and that if Steven had brought _her_ around, there was hope for anyone. This had seemed to reassure the Crystal Gems a little, though Pearl had now resumed her nervous pacing.

"Ok, so how are we even gonna find this other Rose anyway?" asked Amethyst.

"Steven could put out a public message requesting a meeting, but that could just make her go to ground if she doesn't want to be found" replied Pearl, still pacing.

"Then we're going to have to do this covertly" said Garnet matter-of-factly.

"That's not going to be easy" replied Pearl again, holding her hand up to her chin thoughtfully _._ "We all stand out like sore thumbs here. None of us exactly look like typical Gems."

Garnet smiled. "A couple of us do."

A brief glow emanated from her position, and a second later, Ruby and Sapphire stood holding hands, in the spot where Garnet had just been.

"Ruby! Sapphire!" Steven ran happily over to them and pulled them into a hug. Once he'd released them, Sapphire explained her plan:

"Facet 31 must be recruiting new members somehow, probably by approaching members of the public. We'll do what we did that time all those Rubies came to Earth. Ruby doesn't stand out much on Homeworld, so Facet 31's recruiter probably won't be suspicious of her."

"Um… are you sure about this?" asked Pearl, looking concerned. "The baseball plan didn't exactly work well last time."

" _This_ time" Sapphire replied, "I won't be there to distract her."

"Yeah!" said Ruby enthusiastically. "I'll be going in _solo_." She emphasised the word solo as if she was picturing herself as the star in some sort of spy movie.

"And, I'll be wearing one of these!" In her hand she held a small listening device that Dalton had provided them with. "We'll find out what they're planning, and then: we'll beat 'em up!"

Steven raised his eyebrow at her. "Or… talk to them?" Ruby corrected herself sheepishly.

* * *

Ruby walked through the streets of Homeworld, trying to push the feelings of dread inside her to the back of her mind. She'd never been one to overthink things; usually her thought process consisted of working out what was in front of her, and whether or not she should punch it. Sapphire did the thinking.

Sapphire. It was disorienting being without her. Ruby had grown so accustomed to the future vision that being Garnet afforded her, that going back to her old self was practically like being blind. Still, she had a job to do, so she kept walking, hoping to bump into some Gems with useful information.

She got lucky pretty quickly. Out in a large plaza, crowds of Gems were wandering in every direction, going about their daily business (whatever that was now that they weren't following direct orders from the Diamonds).

A small group of Rubies were nearby, talking to what looked like an Emerald. The Emerald turned to leave, waving at the Rubies as she went, and the group continued talking excitedly to each other.

"Time to do what I do best" Ruby thought to herself. Sliding between the members of the group, she interrupted one mid-sentence. "Sooooo… hey guys… what're we talking about again?"

One of the other Rubies, with her gem positioned on her left knee, turned to Ruby and looked irritated. "Weren't you listening to what that Emerald JUST said?"

"Er, I guess I…missed it?" Ruby wasn't a great liar. But around other Rubies that didn't matter.

"Oh, okay!" said the knee Ruby, immediately cheerful again. "She was just telling us about those Facet 42 guys. They're awesome!"

"31" corrected yet another Ruby, with a gem instead of a nose.

"Yeah yeah, whatever" said the knee Ruby dismissively. "Anyway, they're gonna stop all those organics from coming to Homeworld! And if they try, they're gonna beat 'em up!" Isn't that cool?!"

"Er… yeah!" replied Ruby as convincingly as she could. "So… how do we sign up? Is there… some place we need to go?"

"Uh, _duh_ " yet another Ruby shot back. "That Emerald invited us to a meeting later today. C'mon, we'll go together."

And with that, Ruby was swept off by the excited group. Back on-board White's ship, the rest of the team shot each other perplexed glances. They'd been watching the whole thing via Ruby's surveillance device.

"I cannot believe how easy that was" said Pearl flatly. She didn't like to discriminate, but she was still astounded by just how dumb the average Ruby was.

"Don't jinx it P" replied Amethyst, giving Pearl a concerned look.

"Getting in wasn't the hard part" Sapphire said, not even acknowledging their remarks. "The hard part will be getting the information we need out of Facet 31 members themselves, and deciding how to act on it."

Steven knew she was right. Anything this secret meeting didn't reveal, they'd have to get by questioning actual Facet 31 members, and Ruby wasn't exactly good at asking things subtly. This was gonna be a tricky one…

* * *

Emerald walked happily back to Facet 31's base of operations, absentmindedly stroking the gem on her sternum. In the aftermath of Rose Quartz's transmission, she had been conflicted. She had agreed with everything Rose had said, but felt bound by her duty to the Diamonds. The idea of a rebellion went against everything she had been created to believe.

But that had all changed in the last couple of days. After a Facet 31 member embedded in her crew had convinced her to meet Rose in person, all her doubts had been assuaged. Rose had made her see how the Diamonds had betrayed Homeworld's values, and that all that Facet 31 was doing was remaining loyal to their original orders, before the Diamonds had lost their collective minds. That wasn't treachery at all, was it?

She allowed her smile to broaden. Soon it would be time to move. Soon the Diamonds, and their Crystal Gem allies, would either see the error of their ways, or face the consequences…


	18. Chapter 18

**Facet 31 hideout, Homeworld:**

Ruby was led down a series of narrow passages between the towering buildings of Homeworld. The route made so many twists and turns in the few minutes they were walking that she couldn't tell how far they'd actually travelled.

After a while, they came to a hatch, hidden in an isolated alleyway. Clambering down into it, she saw that it led to a series of dim tunnels, cut into the crystalline earth. She stared at her surroundings for just a moment, before being pulled along by the rest of the Rubies.

After a few more minutes navigating the tunnels (and having taken a few wrong turns due to Rubies not being especially good navigators), they finally came to their destination. The tunnels opened out into one large chamber. The sight was unmistakeable. This was one of the huge underground kindergartens which had spawned the first known generation of Gems.

A large crowd was gathered in the centre of the chamber. The crowd was made up of about half Rose Quartzes, half other types of Gem. Some were wearing Facet 31 uniforms, and others, more recently recruited, were still in their Diamond jumpsuits. Once Ruby and her group had pushed their way to the front, she was able to see what the crowd had gathered around. A stage made out of old mechanical parts had been erected, with banners displaying the Facet 31 emblem hung on the wall behind it.

The crowd fell into silence as Rose Quartz approached the stage.

"My fellow Gems" Rose began, her voice amplified by some piece of unseen technology. "Thank you all for coming. I know many of you must be scared, what with the changes our world has been undergoing these past few weeks. But fear not, for Facet 31 will put a stop to this degradation of our empire!"

"We gave the Diamonds millennia of our service, and what did they do in return? They stabbed us in the back in favour of some organics from an insignificant colony world! I know that everyone is this room came here because they feel the same way."

A ripple of mutters and nods of agreement moved through the crowd. Steven could see and hear it all through Ruby's surveillance device. He had known that befriending the Diamonds wouldn't change the minds of all of Homeworld, but it still wasn't easy to actually see a room full of Gems discussing their shared hatred of humans.

Rose continued: "So I ask of you: who will join us in the fight to return our world to its former glory?!"

Approving roars erupted from various parts of the crowd, including the group Ruby had come with, but various Gems throughout the crowd looked a lot less sure.

One piped up "You're actually suggesting we fight the Diamonds?! That's suicide!"

Rose didn't seem fazed. "The Diamonds have lost their teeth. Surely you've all seen that over the last few weeks. They're too scared to use any force out of fear of driving away their new human pets." She practically spat that last word; there was that much disgust in her voice. "Besides, I'm not proposing a war of attrition. We'll get in, strike, and get out before the Diamonds, or the Humans, have a chance to stop us."

Again the crowd erupted in cheers. Rose clearly knew how to command a room as easily as she commanded an army.

"If anyone still isn't willing to trust me on this, I won't blame any of you for leaving now, but to those who stay: know that Facet 31 will keep you safe. So, make your choice."

She paused for about a minute. A few Gems trickled away, but the vast majority remained, with eager looks on their faces.

"Why would she let them leave like that?" Pearl wondered out loud. "Surely she must know any one of them could potentially tell the Diamonds what she's planning."

White had already been sitting curled up to get a look at the screen, but now she curled herself even more tightly into a ball. The look on her face was a mixture of understanding and terror. Steven looked up at her concerned. Meeting his gaze, White finally answered:

"It means they're making their move right now."

On the screen, Rose turned to her new recruits. "Thank you all for joining us. Now, let's waste no more time. We'll send you all where you need to go."

The screen became almost blindingly bright as everyone in the kindergarten was enveloped in a warp column and disappeared.

"Where did they go?" yelped Connie.

"Ruby, can you show us where you are?" Steven said into his own earpiece. He knew she couldn't answer without being exposed, but she could at least look around to show them her surroundings.

As the image showing Ruby's view scanned across her metallic yellow surroundings, Pearl gasped: "That's the inside of an era 1 Gem ship."

Just then, the ground began to rumble. The second screen which showed the city around them told them that this was happening for miles around. Before they even had the chance to wonder what was going on, large cracks began to open up throughout the city, exposing portions of the kindergarten beneath.

On the screens, Steven and the others watched as the ship emerged from one of the cracks. It was joined by dozens more; mostly beaten-up yellow era 1 saucers, but also a few more modern ships, including a green Destiny-class destroyer.

"They were amassing an entire fleet under our noses" White said quietly in disbelief. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, and quickly brought up another screen to her left.

Yellow's face appeared on the screen. "White, what's happening?. We-"

"Get Blue and scramble both of your fleets, now!" White blurted out.

"What? What's happening down there?"

"Just do it!"

Yellow looked shocked, but gave a quick nod and closed the transmission.

The Facet 31 fleet was hovering over the city, waiting as the last of its members freed themselves from the kindergarten. Sapphire grabbed Steven's hand.

"Steven, Ruby is on one of those ships. We can't let them leave the system!"

"I know" replied Steven, trying to take command of the situation. "White, can we follow them?" White nodded as a layer of light formed around her head, and her ship lifted off.

The Facet 31 fleet was now climbing higher into the sky, preparing to leave the atmosphere. White laid in a pursuit course, as Yellow and Blue's ships (as well as a sizeable fleet of hand ships and roaming eyes), fell into formation behind them.

This was exactly the situation Steven had wanted to avoid. He was sick of everything always ending in fighting. But he wasn't about to let Facet 31 accomplish whatever they were planning to do, and he certainly wasn't going to leave Ruby with them.

The view of the Facet 31 fleet grew larger on the monitor as the Diamonds' fleet caught up. One way or another, this had to stop here…


	19. Chapter 19

**Homeworld, low orbit:**

Beams of light streaked through the sky above Homeworld, as the two fleets of starships exchanged fire. Steven braced himself against a wall as White's head ship rocked under constant impacts. The front wall of White's chamber had become one massive viewscreen, allowing him and the others to see the battle unfolding outside.

From what they could see, it looked as though the Facet 31 ships were outmatched. Most of them were dilapidated Era 1 saucers, and they were starting to feel the strain of the firefight. Many had already had large holes blown in them.

Facet 31 did have a few Sun-class ships, and one large Destiny-class, which were having an easier time. Steven winced as the Destiny Annihilator blew a large hole through one of the Diamonds' roaming eyes, which was left drifting helplessly in space.

"White, we've gotta get in there!" he said, sounding as determined as possible.

"Ok..." replied White, sounding considerably more nervous.

"Sapphire, can you tell which ship Ruby is on?" asked Steven, really wishing he had Lars' experience with space battles right about now.

"One moment…trying to focus….I have her!" shouted Sapphire. Using her future vision to locate Ruby was difficult when the battle was constantly shifting, but as she herself was taking no action, it was still within her abilities.

She highlighted the ship on the viewscreen. It was a yellow saucer, moving somewhat more sluggishly than it had been at the start, and with a large hole blown in its side.

"We need to get her out of there!" exclaimed Sapphire.

"It's not going to be easy" replied Pearl. "Era 1 ships don't have warp pads, and even if they did, warping between moving ships is incredibly difficult."

"Then we need to do something besides warping" said Steven.

* * *

Once he had explained his plan, and waited for Pearl to finish her miniature panic attack at the thought of him doing something so dangerous, he made his way down to the entry hatch near the base of White's ship, taking Connie and Sapphire with him.

White got in and out of her ship using a bubble, but members of her court had to get in and out somehow. Hence, there was a physical door. Just as well, because it was the only thing making his plan possible.

On a small tablet-like device he'd been given, Steven could see that White had done her part. Her ship was now angled with the port aimed straight at the whole in Ruby's ship.

"You guys ready to do this?" he asked, looking at the other two.

"Ready when you are!" said Connie with a determined smile. Sapphire simply nodded.

"OK then" said Steven. With some effort, he formed a bubble which enclosed all three of them. Then, he spoke into the tablet: "Ok White, open it up!"

The hatch opened, and the air pressure blew Steven's bubble out of the ship like a bullet out of a gun, firing it in the direction of the saucer. They travelled through space for only a few seconds, but it felt a lot longer. Weapons fire streaked past them as they went. It wasn't aimed specifically at them, but they knew that even crossfire could take them out if they weren't careful.

Finally, the bubble flew into the hole in the saucer's hull. Steven and the others quickly rolled it through the first door they could find. Once the door closed behind them, and they had made their way to an area of the ship which still had gravity and atmosphere, Steven dropped the bubble.

"Ruby, we're here" said Steven, using his earpiece now. "Can you tell us where you are?"

"Yeah" replied Ruby, who had clearly used the confusion to get somewhere isolated where she could speak freely. "I'll show you." She looked down at a console, and brought up a map of the ship. Steven could still see a copy of her vision on the tablet.

"OK, I think we can get there from here" he said unsurely. There was no telling how much of the ship was still intact. Still, they had to do this either way; they had to get her back.

Before he had the chance to get any further, Sapphire grabbed him by the arm and sped off. He only just managed to grab Connie's hand before they were both yanked away at breakneck speed, as Sapphire dashed through the ship.

Miraculously the way to the chamber Ruby had showed them was still intact, though they had to take some detours to avoid being seen by Facet 31 crew members, who were desperately scrambling about trying to keep the ship from coming apart at the seams.

They made it into the correct room in just a few minutes. Ruby had been hiding in some sort of vent, but upon seeing Sapphire, immediately kicked it off the wall and jumped out with a huge grin on her face.

Sapphire released Steven's hand and ran across the room to meet her. She grabbed Ruby and pulled her into an embrace. A few moments of kissing and cuddling later, and Garnet stood happily in the spot where the two had been.

"Thanks you two" she said with a smile in Steven and Connie's direction. "Now, tell me the plan Steven."

"We need to get to Rose Quartz" replied Steven. "But… we should probably get back to White's ship first; I dunno how long this one's gonna hold together."

As if in answer to his statement, the ship rocked again as another blast hit it. Garnet tapped some commands into a console, and brought up a rear view image. The saucer was being tailed by a green hand ship, which was firing repeatedly from its outstretched index finger.

"Come on!" yelled Garnet, immediately taking charge. "We need to find the escape pods!"

Just then, another explosion rocked the ship, throwing everyone to the floor. Steven looked around frantically. If they could all group up, he could put them all in a bubble again, and they'd be fine no matter what happened to the ship. He reached out to try to grab Connie.

And then the rumbling stopped.

After taking a moment to come to their senses, Steven, Garnet and Connie shot each other confused looks. Heading back to the console, they saw that the hand ship on the monitor was no longer firing. In fact, it seemed to just be drifting.

Back on White's ship, the rest of the Crystal Gems were seeing the same thing. Across the battlefield, multiple hand ships and roaming eyes were losing power, or spinning off out of control, or rocking as explosions burst from localised points within them. The Gems looked on in shock.

"How is this happening?" muttered Pearl and White in unison.

* * *

But one Gem did know how it was happening. On the bridge of the Destiny Annihilator, Rose Quartz smirked.

"All according to plan..."


	20. Chapter 20

**Diamond Fleet, a few moments earlier:**

Yellow Diamond sat in the command chair of her arm ship. It was taking heavy fire from Facet 31's fleet, but it was nothing it couldn't handle.

Following Steven and his friends' battle with the Diamond mech, she had had her arm fully repaired. It had been a hell of a job, after that bizarre fusion had sliced the thing in half, but the ship was now at full power again, and was making quick work of the Facet 31 ships.

The crew was minimal, as she controlled the ship's movement and weaponry herself, but there was still a skeleton crew on board to monitor the ship's systems, and to relay her tactical information. She turned to one of the yellow Jades manning a console to her left.

"Bring the Destiny Annihilator onscreen. If we can disable it, Facet 31 will be crippled."

"Yes my Diamond", replied the Jade courteously. After Homeworld's reformation, the Gems were no longer obligated to address the Diamonds in this manner, but much of Yellow's old court had continued to do so. Whether this was out of pre-programmed reverence towards her, or just because they found her intimidating, Yellow didn't know, and she tried not to think about it too often.

The image of the Destiny Annihilator appeared on the main viewer, its four gun arms blasting away at nearby roaming eyes.

"Excellent" said Yellow, allowing herself a small grin. Lifting her arm, she pointed her ship's index finger at the Annihilator, and prepared to fire.

Then it went dark.

Yellow looked around the bridge in confusion. All the systems were starting to shut off. After a few seconds, her eyes fell on the Jade she had given the order to before, who was now very conspicuously not managing the viewscreen controls, but was instead typing frantically into various interfaces.

"Explain!" yelled Yellow, trying to avoid cracking the arm of her chair as she gripped it.

"She's initiated a shutdown of the gravity core!" yelled a Peridot monitoring the ship's systems at another console.

The Jade was instantly surrounded by Topaz Guards. Yellow didn't skimp on security anywhere, least of all on her own ship.

The Jade was unintimidated though. She had done what she came to do. She looked up at Yellow with a smirk. "I'm afraid you won't be going anywhere… my Diamond." She delivered the title in a smug, mocking tone.

In a movement almost too quick for the Gems in the room to perceive, Yellow swung her arm out, grabbed the Jade in her fist, and poofed her effortlessly. She knew Steven wouldn't have approved, but right now she didn't care, though she had to admit it didn't actually solve the problem.

"How soon can we get moving again?!" Yellow asked, trying to keep her voice as controlled as possible, but not managing very well.

"The entire core's in automatic shutdown. We won't be able to restart the systems for some time!" the Peridot replied.

"Damn it" Yellow muttered under her breath. On the viewscreen, she could see that the other ships in her and Blue's fleet were having similar issues. Some were dead in space, while others were spinning out of control or giving off worrying explosions. The reality of the situation dawned on her.

"They had agents embedded on every one of our ships…" This time she didn't even bother keeping the thought under her breath.

* * *

**Present:**

While the saucer they were on was no longer under fire, Steven, Connie, and Garnet took the opportunity to get to one of its escape pods, and were soon back aboard White's ship. But the battle wasn't going well. Only about a third of the Diamonds' fleet was still firing on the Facet 31 ships. All the others had been disabled.

"If we don't do something soon, they're going to leave the system!" exclaimed Pearl.

"What makes you so sure that's their plan? Won't they stay and try to finish us off while they're winning?" asked Connie.

"They're not stupid" replied Pearl. "They know that even if they beat this fleet, there are dozens more getting ready to deploy on Homeworld. They wouldn't stand a chance attempting a coup. They must be trying to go somewhere else."

"But where would they-" The revelation hit Steven like a wave. Both times he'd seen Rose speak; there was one dominating thing about her personality: her hatred of humans.

"...I think they're going after Earth" he said, unable to hide the fear in his voice.

A silence hung in the room for a few moments, before Steven cleared his head. "We have to get to Rose Quartz" he said earnestly.

"Do we even know what ship she's on?" asked Amethyst.

They all looked out at the battle, and watched as the Destiny Annihilator shrugged off the attacks of the Diamonds' roaming eyes.

Connie gave a concerned look, and replied: "If I were her, I know which one I'd be on."

"How on Earth are we going to get on board?" asked Pearl. "This one doesn't exactly have convenient hole blown in it."

"Then we'll make one" replied White, looking a lot more determined than she had been. Maybe it was just the anger over what was happening, maybe it was her desire to keep Steven safe, but whatever the reason, her earlier nervousness had evaporated. "Steven, everyone: hold on to something."

* * *

On the bridge of the Destiny Annihilator, Rose watched White's ship intently. It was still moving under its own power, and successfully fending off her ships. It seemed none of her agents had been able to sneak aboard.

As she watched the battle, something caught her eye about White's ship. It was subtle enough that she didn't notice at first, but after a few seconds it became terrifyingly apparent. The ship was getting closer. Quickly.

"Rose!" shouted her right hand Quartz, manning a tactical station "White Diamond's ship is on a collision course!"

Rose stood in shock for a fraction of a second, before gathering herself and issuing a panicked command. "Hard to port!"

The Destiny Annihilator listed sharply to the left, but it wasn't enough. Seconds later, the head of White's ship ploughed into their side, linking the two ships together, and sending a hail of crumpled green and white metal flying off into space.

"Report!" Rose barked.

"Gravity drive is still online. Weapons and shields are down" replied the other Rose Quartz. "We'll have to get repair teams down to- Rose! Intruders detected near the collision site!"

Rose grimaced for a moment, but that grimace quickly shifted into a smirk when she realised who these intruders must be.

Pink Diamond and her allies were coming to her. At least this way she'd have the chance send Pink a message she'd never forget…


	21. Chapter 21

**Destiny Annihilator:**

Steven and the others barrelled through the seemingly endless maze of green corridors. Only White had stayed behind on her ship, as she was too big to move about aboard the Annihilator. She had, however, showed them the layout of the ship, and the group was now making quick progress towards the bridge.

The ship was in such chaos that they had been able to get past the majority of the crew unnoticed. The Facet 31 Gems were too busy trying to stop the Annihilator coming apart at the seams to notice the small group.

As they reached the command deck though, a group of Rose Quartz blocked their path. "Guess she was expecting us" said Amethyst, pulling out her Gem weapon.

The others did the same, and corridor became a battlefield. It had been designed for Gems of any size to be able to pass through, so there was enough room for the fighters to move freely, which was just as well for the smaller, more agile Crystal Gems.

The Rose Quartz were larger and stronger than even Garnet, but most had not fought in thousands of years, and the difference in experience showed, as they struggled to land a hit on the rebels.

Pearl effortlessly dodged swing after swing from her Quartz opponent. She briefly allowed her gaze to wander away from her opponent's sword, up to her face. This Rose Quartz didn't look as much like _her_ Rose as the one leading Facet 31 did. "Good", she thought. "This will make this easier."

As the Quartz lunged, Pearl pirouetted out of the way, allowing her attacker's momentum to send it careening into the wall. Planting her feet again, she lunged forward at the dazed Quartz, burying her trident in its back, poofing it instantly.

Dusting down her jacket, she smiled to herself. "I've still got it."

Garnet was handling herself well too. Her Quartz opponent had the size and power advantage, but Garnet was using that power against her, exactly the way she had when she fought Jasper, which now seemed like so long ago.

She and the Quartz jumped at each other, each with a fist outstretched. At the last moment, Garnet unfused. Ruby and Sapphire passed around either side of the confused Quartz, and re-fused mid-air on the other side. Garnet delivered a punch to the back of the Quartz's head before she could react, poofing her. Garnet gave herself a brief hug of appreciation.

Amethyst was having a bit more trouble, though still fighting admirably. She slid deftly between the legs of her attacker, righted herself, and lashed her whip across the Rose's back. However, her attack didn't have the power behind it that Garnet's or Pearl's did, and the Rose Quartz shrugged it off. Amethyst scowled. This Quartz was nearly at Jasper's level.

Having disposed of their own opponents, Garnet and Pearl leapt in beside her, shooting her a reassuring glance. "We'll take the rest together" said Garnet.

Amidst this chaos, Steven had been focused entirely on finding Rose. He blocked attacks left and right, but just kept running, with Connie sprinting behind to keep up with him. As he had almost cleared the pack, a Rose Quartz reached for him. Amethyst's quickly grabbed it with her whip and pulled it back into the scrum.

"Keep going Steven!" she yelled over the sounds of the battle.

"We'll handle the rest!" added Garnet.

"OK!" Steven yelled back, as he turned back towards the bridge along with Connie.

* * *

After another minute of frantic sprinting, Steven and Connie made it to the bridge. It was a mess, with cables and fragments of green metal strewn on the floor, and smoke pouring from many of the consoles. In the centre of the room stood Rose, flanked by an Emerald, and several Peridots.

As Steven and Connie approached, the group of green Gems took a step towards them, before Rose raised her arm, blocking her allies. "No" she said authoritatively. "Pink Diamond is mine."

It always hurt a little to be called that, but Steven knew he shouldn't have expected anything different. Still, the Diamonds had been like this before, and he'd been able to make _them_ see things his way. He had to at least try it here as well.

"Rose Quartz" he said pleadingly. "Please stop this! The humans aren't trying to hurt you! There's no reason for any Gems to get hurt over this!"

Rose scowled. "You expect me to believe that? After that planet warped the minds of your own court, and convinced them to rebel against our way of life? After the humans sent a spy to steal our technology?"

Steven shouted back, still begging "What the Crystal Gems are doing on Earth isn't a threat to you! They're just living their lives! And yeah, what that human did was wrong, but we're not all like that, and even he didn't deserve what you did to him!"

Rose looked ready to burst with rage. "What _I_ did to _him_?! What about what your rebellion did to _me?!_ "

"What do you…" before Steven even finished his sentence, the realisation struck him. His mind shot back to the room he'd seen aboard the human zoo. A room filled to the brim with bubbled Rose Quartz.

"…You were bubbled because of Pink's rebellion." He said, deflated.

"We were betrayed!" continued Rose, evidently not finished. "We Rose Quartzes used to be the most revered members of your royal guard." A tiny hint of pride registered in her voice as she said it, but quickly faded.

"But after you took the form of a Rose Quartz as the face of your little rebellion, we were disgraced. We Rose Quartzes were treated as monsters! The other Diamonds bubbled or shattered any they could get their hands on, just to get to _you!_ Some of us managed to hide for a few years, but all that accomplished was giving us the chance to watch as the last of our kind were rounded up…"

Steven opened his mouth to say something, but Rose carried on before he got the chance.

"And _what_ do we find when we get woken up? That your secret is out, and everything is forgiven, like your fight with the other Diamonds never happened. _You_ just got welcomed right back, while _we_ lost six thousand years of our lives!"

_"_ And to top it all off, most of the time we spent bubbled, everyone believed that a Rose Quartz had shattered a Diamond. They didn't make any more of us. We became a myth. A scary story to tell newly emerged Gems to keep them in line. All because we were a convenient disguise for _you_!"

Steven was at a loss for words. He knew the Rose Quartzes had been bubbled during the war, but had known that his mom had bubbled them to protect them, so that the other Diamonds wouldn't shatter any more of them. He was content enough with her motives that it had never occurred to him what it must have been like for the Rose Quartzes.

Rose had her head in her hand, obviously reliving the horror she had just recounted. Steven spoke to her: "I'm so sorry for what happened to you. Pink never wanted anything bad to happen to you. She was just… bad at noticing how other people felt sometimes."

"And apparently so am I" he added in his own head.

Rose brought her hand down from her face, a fresh wave or anger burning in her eyes. This time though, she didn't shout. She spoke in a quiet, pained voice.

"Stop trying to act like you're somebody else. _You_ are Pink. _You_ did this. And either way, sorry isn't good enough. You can't give back what we've lost. You're six thousand years too late for that."

She reached into her gem and pulled out her sword.

"And now: you're going to pay."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the chapter's a few hours late today, I just straight-up forgot to upload it this morning. We're really getting to the heart of Rose's motivations now, and there are a lot more revelations to come in that regard. As always, bear in mind this fic was written before the movie, which is why nothing about the Rose Quartzes said in this chapter lines up with the vents in 'Future'. That said, hope you're all still enjoying the story!


	22. Chapter 22

Rose raised her sword and charged at Steven and Connie. She moved far more quickly than her bulky frame would suggest, and Steven barely had time to raise his shield before her sword came crashing into it.

She forced him backwards, his feet sliding along the smooth floor as he tried to get traction. Connie leapt over him, using the top of his shield to push off for a second jump. Her sword was raised above her head, ready to strike, but Rose was too fast.

Rose jumped back about ten metres in a single motion, dodging Connie's blow. She dashed forwards again, at the same ludicrous speed, swinging her sword with the full intent of cleaving Connie in half.

In the split second he had to react, Steven enlarged his shield as much as he could, and swung it over his head, dropping it in front of Connie. The transparent pink wall deflected Rose's attack in the nick of time.

"Connie!" he yelled over the ringing sound of the sword striking the shield "we can't cover ourselves and attack at the same time. You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Connie grinned. "You know it."

Steven and Connie stood back to back, clasping each other's hands. A warm glow emanated from behind the shield as Rose watched on perplexed. When the shield dropped, there was no Steven, or Connie. There was only the one.

Stevonnie raised their head and glared at Rose. Twirling Connie's sword in one hand, they summoned a shield in the other. "I won't let you hurt anyone else" they said defiantly.

Rose practically growled her reply. "Fusion?! You even _fuse_ with organics now? Is there no end to how you disgrace our world?!"

"It's not a disgrace! I'm gonna show you just what it can do!" Stevonnie leapt forwards, swinging their sword. Rose deftly blocked it with her own blade, and soon the two were duelling. It occurred to Stevonnie that this reminded them a lot of when they trained with Pearl. If Rose was as good with a sword as Pearl was, this was going to be tough.

Emerald and the Peridots backed away as Rose was pushed back through the position they had been standing. Rose still had the strength advantage, but Stevonnie was more practiced. They parried each of Rose's blows expertly. Finally, Rose left herself an opening. Stevonnie parried another sword blow, and with their other arm, swung Steven's shield directly into Rose's face.

Rose was knocked off her feet, and rolled a couple of times before coming to a stop. Getting to her feet, she snarled, before spinning up into a flaming ball and firing at Stevonnie like a searing comet.

Steven, and by extension Stevonnie, had seen this move from Amethyst and Jasper before, so they knew how to respond in theory. However, Rose was faster than either of the other two Quartzes, and Stevonnie was barely able to dodge her attacks as she careened from wall to wall.

Finally, Rose span up one of the walls, and launched directly down from the ceiling. Stevonnie raised their shield to block her, but couldn't take the full force as the deck beneath them buckled under the attack.

Stood over the now crouching Stevonnie, Rose kicked their leg out from under their shield, sending them sprawling onto their front. Grabbing them by the arm, she threw them over her head. They slammed into a console, destroying it.

"Eurgh…next time we go to homeworld, we'll pack a helmet."

Stevonnie barely had time to clear their head before Rose charged again, sword held high. As she brought her sword down, they rolled out of the way, as Rose sliced the smashed console in two. As she turned to face them again, they slid between her legs, slicing her calf with Connie's sword.

Rose fell to one knee. Stevonnie spun out of the slide to face Rose, and threw Steven's shield. Rose caught it one-handed, but the attempt distracted her from Stevonnie's approach. They landed a jump kick to her jaw, and she was sent sprawling a couple of metres across the floor, stopping when she bumped into the bridge's main viewscreen.

"Rose, we can stop this now. Just come back to Homeworld with us, and we'll talk this out; find some way to make up for what happened to you."

Rose got to her feet and glared at them. "Save it, Pink. You can't make up for it. And either way, you're in no position to make demands." Her grimace turned into a smirk.

Swinging around, she shattered the viewscreen with one titanic punch. Everyone on the bridge grabbed the nearest thing they could as the air rushed out, except for Rose, whose weight seemed to allow her to move against the rushing wind, albeit just barely.

She slowly trudged towards Stevonnie, who was hanging by a small cable. Stevonnie threw a shield at her, but she caught it easily. She lifted it to her face, studying it. "So, this was your Gem weapon while you were impersonating one of us. A fitting way to end this."

With a wicked smile, Rose threw the shield, with as much skill as Steven could have. It curved in the air, and perfectly severed the cable Stevonnie was clinging to. As Stevonnie was flew past her, they locked eyes for a brief moment, before Stevonnie was blown out of the ship completely.

* * *

Stevonnie bubbled themselves as quickly as possible, trapping enough air for a minute or two. As they flew further from the Annihilator, they could see the whole battle. The Facet 31 ships were no longer firing on the Diamonds' fleet. Instead, they were all turning to face roughly the same way.

A moment later, small black voids opened up in front of each ship, and the vessels jumped out of the system with such speed that they seemed to distort in a spiral-like pattern as they left. The Diamonds' fleet was in no condition to follow. Even the ships that weren't disabled were damaged and sluggish. Facet 31 had got away.

Stevonnie collapsed to their knees inside their bubble. They'd failed. There'd be no tracking Facet 31 now. For all anyone knew, they could be heading to attack Earth at this very moment. Stevonnie was shaken out of their commiseration when they were bathed in bright light. They fell against the back wall of the bubble as it abruptly stopped flying.

Looking up, they saw that White's ship had caught them in a tractor beam. In the heat of the moment, Stevonnie hadn't even noticed that it hadn't still been attached to the Annihilator when they were flung away from it. White must have pulled away during their fight.

Stevonnie's bubble was pulled in through the seemingly solid wall of White's ship, and they were soon stood in White's chamber again, surrounded by the Crystal Gems. They looked pretty battered, but luckily they'd all made it back to the ship before the Annihilator jumped out of the system.

Stevonnie collapsed in exhaustion and unfused. Amethyst and Pearl caught Steven and Connie as they fell. They embraced each other in relief that they were all still alive.

After a moment Pearl spoke up. _"_ What happens now?"

Steven looked over to her and Connie, some determination returning to his face. "We need to get a warning to Earth..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter is once again late, this time by several hours. I've got a new job that's been taking up most of my headspace, and I completely forgot to upload the chapter this morning. Hopefully this doesn't become a regular thing. Hope you liked the chapter!


	23. Chapter 23

White's ship sped towards earth as fast as its gravity drive would carry it. If Facet 31's fleet was already on its way there, they'd have no chance of catching up, but they could at least get there in good enough time to interrupt their attack.

Steven sat in White's chamber, as Pearl sat next to him fiddling with a Diamond line communicator. If they could contact Earth before Facet 31 got there, then the humans could at least prepare their own armies. It wasn't a prospect Steven was fond of. Humans wouldn't stand a chance against Gem soldiers, but right now he couldn't think of anything else he could do. He nodded at Pearl, and she started the call.

After a few moments, Dalton's face appeared on the projection from the communicator, followed by the faces of about a dozen other international leaders.

"President Dalton" said White, sounding a little surprised. "I wasn't aware that anyone else would be sitting in on this conversation."

Dalton looked uncomfortable, almost like a child that had just been told off by a parent. "The international community… feels very strongly that they should not be left out of any further interaction with your people, hence my colleagues here will be taking part in any further discussion."

Marie Bujold; the French President, spoke next. "May I ask what the purpose of this call is, White Diamond? Do you have news regarding the attempt to negotiate with Facet 31?"

White started looking sheepish, so Steven stepped in: "It… didn't go well. We're calling to warn you that they might be coming for Earth."

Looks of panic washed across all the faces on the screen, some better hidden than others. After a moment, Bujold spoke again: "So, effectively, you've radicalised them further?"

"That's quite enough Marie" said Dalton, in a much steelier tone than he had adopted earlier. "Going at each other isn't going to improve our situation, and either way, it's likely this is what Facet 31 was planning all along, am I right Steven?"

"Yeah" Steven replied in a resigned tone. "They were putting a fleet together in secret over the last few weeks. We couldn't stop them leaving Homeworld."

"How sure are you that they're coming directly here?" The man who spoke was the British Prime Minister; Richard Cowell. Like Bujold, Steven remembered him from the conference. "Scrambling our militaries would spark global panic. We can't do it unless an attack is provably imminent."

It was Pearl who replied this time: "We weren't able to track them when they left the system, so we can't prove that they're targeting Earth, but there simply isn't another logical target. Their feud is with humans. They see Earth as the root of all their problems."

"Alright then" conceded Cowell. "We'll try to put our troops in defending position as discreetly as possible. The public are on edge about Gems as it is. Soldiers in the streets and talk of an invasion would start a wholesale riot."

"It's immaterial anyway" chided Bujold. "Our militaries wouldn't stand a chance against Gems. I take it, White Diamond, that you can offer us the support to make this something other than a futile attempt?"

White noted that this human seemed very pessimistic. _"She and Yellow should chat some time"_ she thought to herself, before replying: "Of course, Madame President. My ship is on its way to Earth now, and we hope to have reinforcements soon after."

"Alright" said Dalton, in a tone that made it clear that he was bringing the entire conversation to a close before Bujold could press any further. "We'll get things in place on our end. I hope we're all still here to speak to you when you get here."

The call shut off, and the Crystal Gems were left in the palpable silence of White's ship.

"So do we" muttered Steven.

* * *

White's ship dropped out of galaxy drive above Earth about twelve hours later. They hadn't received any other calls from Earth on their journey there, and weren't sure whether to take that as a good sign or a bad one.

When they entered orbit though, Steven could see that there was no visible damage to Earth of any kind, and, even more bizarrely, no sign of Facet 31's fleet.

"Pearl" he said, "Can you put me in touch with the leaders again?"

Pearl opened the Diamond line again, and within a minute each of the leaders was on-screen. The fact that all these powerful people dropped whatever they were doing whenever he called was convenient, yes, but it did make Steven worried about just how terrified these people must be of White, given that they clearly didn't feel they could keep her waiting.

"Um… hi everyone" said Steven, collecting his thoughts. "Are you all ok down there?"

Over the next few hours, the leaders of Earth explained to the Crystal Gems everything that had transpired since they had last spoken. They had put their armies in place, put all their military bases on alert, but no attack had come. There was no sign of Facet 31.

White's ship remained in orbit of Earth for days, even being joined by an armada of roaming eyes and hand ships, but still, Facet 31 didn't show themselves. The Diamonds' patrols in Homeworld's galaxy didn't turn up any sign of them either.

After a week it was decided that the fleet that had followed White's ship to Earth would stay to help protect the system, but Earth's leaders insisted that they pull back to the outer planets, to avoid panicking the populous. Everyone had to admit that a fleet of Gem ships being discovered in Earth's orbit wouldn't exactly ease the tensions.

The Diamonds agreed to this on the condition that Gems would be stationed on the moon base to observe what was happening on Earth. The leaders had looked more than a little shocked to discover that the Gems even _had_ a moon base (Steven reflected that he probably should have brought that up at the first conference), but had reluctantly agreed.

At the end of that particularly tense week, they had done all they could. White's ship touched down in front of the Crystal Gems' temple. A large bubble carried Steven and the others out onto the beach below.

"Are you sure you want to stay here Steven?" asked White, concerned. "Facet 31 could still attack at any time."

"That's exactly why I _need_ to stay" replied Steven. "If they do come here, Earth will need the Crystal Gems. Besides, until we can find them, we aren't exactly being useful waiting around in your ship. You're gonna be needed back on Homeworld."

White had to admit he was right. Yellow and Blue could only do so much to quell the panic of the Gems back home. She couldn't wait around on Earth forever.

"You're right. I'd better head home. But if you need help-"

"I'll have my Diamond line communicator to call you, and my legs if I need to get to Homeworld" Steven cut her off reassuringly.

White smiled back at him. "Alright. I'll get going then… Be careful Starlight." As her bubble closed around her, she reminded herself to ask Steven if he was still ok with being called 'Starlight' next time they met.

As White's ship jumped to gravity drive, and disappeared from view, Steven stood on the beach and looked up at the night sky. Where had Facet 31 gone? Rose had seemed so furious just days ago. Why wouldn't she be attacking?

Steven certainly wasn't complaining about that part, but it left him uneasy. Something told him it was unlikely Rose had had a change of heart. If she was taking her time, it meant she was planning something, and there was no telling what might happen when she was finally ready to make her move.

He said his goodbyes to Connie as she hopped into his dad's van. Greg had offered to drive her home, seeing as she'd been on White's ship all week, and, even though she had called home every night, her parents were starting to get worried.

As Steven and the three Gems headed back into the house, he looked up for a moment at the painting of his mother on the wall. As he plopped himself onto his bed, he sighed, and though to himself that, even with all the emotional baggage of the last few years, he'd take dealing with his mother over this new Rose Quartz any day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update yet again guys. Life, as ever, got in the way. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	24. Chapter 24

_The sea of stars seemed to go on forever. An endless black void, teeming with white lights that twinkled so subtly you could barely see it. And to one side, a massive orange-brown orb, so vast it eclipsed any stars that might exist beyond it. Encircling it; a ring glistening in greys, browns, and greens._

_He stared at the orb for a while, somehow feeling… fondness for it. Or was it satisfaction, about what it could do for him? He began taking note of his surroundings more. The humming... What was that humming? A low, single electronic note, which was almost soothing. Where was it coming from?_

_He turned his head. It didn't feel like he'd tried to, but his vision moved anyway. He could see now that the sea of stars had been a window, a view outside from wherever this place was. His eyes wandered lazily around him, glancing across the pink metal of his surroundings. He felt that satisfaction again. But why? What was he doing again?_

_His vision slid back to the window, and, more conscious this time, he noticed his reflection in the glass. He smiled at the sight of his black uniform. He felt pride as his thick fingers stroked the emblem on the front. A shock of long, pink hair tumbled over his shoulder, and he brushed it away._

_Was his hair always like that? Yes, of course it was, why wouldn't it be? Then why didn't it feel normal? What was he doing again? Where-_

**Crystal Gem house, Beach City:**

Steven squinted as sunlight poured in through the window next to his bed. Looking over to the kitchen, he saw Pearl was already pottering about, cleaning various surfaces. She looked over to him and smiled.

"Oh, good morning Steven. Sleep well?"

"Yeah, I think" he replied. He felt rested, but also like he'd had one of those particularly trippy dreams he sometimes got after eating too soon before bed. He couldn't remember this one though. Had Dogcopter been there?

He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and headed downstairs. He knew that Facet 31 could still show up at any time, but there was no sense stressing over that when he couldn't do anything about it, so he tried to focus on happier thoughts. He looked around to see which Gems would be visiting today.

Amethyst was chatting to a bunch of Quartzes of various colours, most of which still had varying numbers of horns. Garnet was holding two tiny Gems, one in each hand, formerly the Heaven and Earth beetles. They were happily engaged in some discussion which, judging by how enthusiastically Garnet was talking, was probably about fusion.

As he looked out the front door, he saw one other Gem, waiting nervously on the front balcony. Nephrite was standing awkwardly, looking down at the floor. She looked up and accidentally met his gaze for a moment, then hurriedly looked back down.

Steven sighed. He hadn't exactly been on the best terms with her when they'd last seen each other, but this was as good a time as any to fix that. Besides, it would give him one less thing to stress over.

Pearl looked like she was about to say something when she saw Steven about to head out while still in his pyjamas, but stopped when she noticed Nephrite. Steven headed outside and shut the door.

He and Nephrite looked at each other, unsure of who should speak first. Steven decided he might as well break the ice.

"Hey Nephrite, how're-"

"I'm sorry!" Nephrite blurted out, cutting him off.

"It's fine Nephrite, you don't need to apologise."

"Yes I do!" she continued. "I never should have suggested that you weren't looking out for us. I may think differently about the humans than you do, but you went to Homeworld and risked your life to help the Diamonds anyway. I know you did that to protect humans too, but as far as I'm concerned, you're still on our side…"

Steven wasn't sure how to respond. He appreciated the apology, but sensed Nephrite still didn't fully understand his point of view.

"Thanks Nephrite, but I need you to understand that there is no 'our side' or… at least there won't be forever."

"What do you mean?" she said, confused.

"Remember the Gem war?" Steven continued. "Homeworld and the Crystal Gems fought each other for centuries, and they still managed to make up in the end. Just look at you: you're a Homeworld soldier who lives on the planet you used to fight against.

Things may be bad between humans and Gems now, but they're nowhere near as bad as things were between the two sides of the Gem war, right? And my friends and I were able to stop that war. Can you trust me to fix this problem too?"

"I…yeah." Replied Nephrite after a couple of moments. "I guess if anyone can make this better, it's you."

"Thanks" Steven said, smiling up at her. "So… can I start apologising now?"

"Um… for what?"

"The war. You served Pink Diamond, and you ended up having to fight the Crystal Gems because she kept her other identity a secret from everyone. You and your crew never would have gotten hurt if she'd just…"

Nephrite knelt down to his height and stroked his head. She spoke much more softly now. "Steven, it's ok. The Crystal gems explained everything to me. I know you're not her. You don't need to apologise for anything she did."

"Thanks Nephrite" said Steven, tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

Nephrite smiled back "you can call me Centi."

* * *

Steven drifted off to sleep much more easily that night, with at least one weight lifted off his shoulders. But that didn't stop him from dreaming.

_He saw stars and metal, heard the same electronic humming, and gazed once again at the reflection that wasn't his own._

_That's right. This wasn't his face. He knew that now. But he did know its owner. Was it his mom? No… but it was someone who looked like her. Who was that? If he could just remember… He just had to…_

Steven woke with a Gasp. It was still dark outside, and the moon was casting a silver light across the beach. A quick look around revealed that none of the Gems were there. They must have all been in their rooms. He knew that needed to talk to one of them as soon as possible. Getting out of bed, he ran into his own Gem room, and took the usual path down to Garnet's basement.

Steven spotted Garnet over by her lava pool, engrossed in the process of examining some artefact or another. He ran over to her and tapped her leg to get her attention.

"Oh, hi Steven. It's a bit late for-"

"Garnet!" he looked purposefully up into her face, still panting from the short sprint. "I know how we can find Facet 31."


	25. Chapter 25

"Take control of Rose's mind?!"

Pearl reacted to the plan about as well as Steven had expected her to. She was making her "I'm about to have a nervous breakdown" face, and pacing around in a small circle.

"Yeah. I had a dream last night where I saw through her eyes, just like what used to happen with the Diamonds, but I couldn't see where she was. I need to jump in there properly and get a look around."

Pearl looked doubtful. "Rose Quartz isn't exactly a watermelon, Steven. I'm not sure you could even control her."

Steven grinned sheepishly and looked at the floor. "Actually… I can control _peoples'_ bodies too. I did it to Lars once."

Pearl looked so shocked that her eyes were taking up most of her face. "You whaaaaat?!"

Amethyst on the other hand was finding it hysterical. "Woah, that's so cool Ste-man! Here, try me next!" She stood at the foot of his bed with her eyes shut and arms open, as if that would somehow make it easier.

"Amethyst!" Pearl snapped, fixing her with a stern look. Amethyst rolled her eyes and grumbled "Urgh, fine. Another time", then went back to the video game she'd been playing.

Steven continued. "Yeah, I controlled Lars' body for a whole day. I could walk and speak and everything. He…wasn't very happy about it, so I don't do that anymore, but I think this time I'd be using the power for a good reason."

While he knew that stopping Rose _was_ a very good reason, Steven still wasn't thrilled about suggesting it. His powers helped him connect with people, but straight-up _controlling_ them just didn't feel right.

Back before he'd found out the truth about his mother, he'd thought that all the powers he'd got from her were cool. Now though, they took on a new meaning. His mother was a Diamond. Her power to control others likely stemmed from that. He had wondered more than once how often she had used this power during her old life on Homeworld. He knew she used to throw tantrums until she got her way. How often had she used this power to take someone's free will away from them?

He'd seen first-hand what White could do to Gems when she controlled them. None of the others ever talked much about what being possessed by White was like, and he knew none of them actually remembered, since they weren't actually conscious during it. But from the outside, it had looked nightmarish.

Pink must have been taught to use her powers by White, who had spent millennia trying her hardest to make Pink think like her, so there was no telling if Pink had ever used her powers in much the same way. He'd never worked up the courage to ask about it, but the idea of his mother putting people through that, and the idea that _he_ might do the same; it wasn't a part of himself he was eager to acknowledge.

Seeing the look on his face, Garnet leant down and lifted his chin.

"Steven, are you sure you're ok to do this?"

There was a time when Garnet would never have even considered asking that question, or any question at all for that matter. Millennia ago, Rose had told her never to question herself; and Garnet, in her reverence towards Rose, had applied this to all aspects of her life. She'd only become more steadfast in that behaviour after Steven was born, using it as a way to honour Rose's memory.

But a lot had changed in the last couple of years. They all knew a lot more about Rose now, and while Garnet had forgiven her for keeping her past from them, she had to admit that old reverence was gone. If asking the right questions meant she could help someone, then it was worth ignoring Rose's old advice sometimes.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks Garnet" replied Steven, putting on a subtle smile.

"How on Earth did you take control of Lars in the first place?" asked Pearl, apparently still hung up on the practicalities as much as Steven's emotions.

"I'm… not really sure" Steven admitted. "I just kinda went to bed like normal, but I guess I was thinking about him and Sadie a lot before falling asleep."

"Well, just think Rose Quartz-y thoughts then I guess" said Amethyst nonchalantly.

Steven looked down and lifted his shirt slightly to peer at his own Gem. He remembered staring at it so many times in his life, wondering what it felt like to be a Quartz, like his mother. Now, of course, he knew she'd never really been one; not physically at least. But she'd chosen to live as one; truly felt that that was who she was, and as a result, Steven felt that way too.

Even after everything that had happened on Homeworld, even after realizing that the Diamonds were his family, he still had to remind himself sometimes that _his_ gem was a Diamond too. Since the events on Homeworld, he'd thought once or twice about trying to rotate his gem back to its Diamond orientation, so that it might feel less like he was hiding from his mother's past, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Somehow 'Steven Quartz Universe' just felt right.

He hoped that that feeling would be enough to give him a connection to this new Rose Quartz; the one leading Facet 31. After all, if he wanted to keep Earth safe, it was going to have to be.

"OK" he said determinedly. "Let's do it."

"Alright" said Pearl, sounding only slightly more convinced. "I'll go ask Greg to bring his guitar."

"Nah, that's ok" replied Steven. "I can pretty much fall asleep on command now."

Steven got into bed, and laid his head on his pillow. "OK, wish me luck."

"Good Luck Steven" replied Garnet. "We know you can-"

Garnet was cut off as Steven began snoring loudly.

"How does he _do_ that?" asked Pearl. Garnet just smiled and shrugged, and they all turned their eyes back to the sleeping Steven.

Pearl smiled fondly at him as he slept. While she never usually did it without his permission anymore, she did still like to watch him sleep now and then. It was very soothing. Not to mention, he looked so much like his mother sometimes.

Pearl had watched Rose sleep all the time in the old days, since she never slept herself. Back then, she had never understood why Rose partook in all those human rituals. Wasting hours at a time unconscious seemed…inefficient.

But then, the whole point of the Crystal Gems was to make a world where they weren't being treated like machines, wasn't it? So she often let Rose sleep, even when there were matters that needed her attention.

Pearl knew all too well how heavy the weight on Rose's shoulder was, so it had been nice to see her at peace. Rose often asked Pearl to join her, but Pearl didn't really have the hang of sleeping back then, so she just lay awake next to Rose, listening to her rhythmic breathing (a subconscious affectation, since Gems didn't need to do that, but it was comforting to Pearl nonetheless).

She dragged her mind back to the present, and focused on Steven again. After all, he may have been asleep, but he wasn't resting. He was in the process of getting them the intel they needed. The sooner they were able to actually take some action against Facet 31 instead of just waiting around, the better.

* * *

Steven floated in the endless black void. "It worked!" he exclaimed. "I'm back in that psychic ghost space again! Now I just gotta find Rose…"

He scanned the void around him, and focused his thoughts as hard as he could on the Rose he had fought just days ago. It wasn't easy, as those memories weren't exactly pleasant to dwell on, and because it was difficult to separate the mental image of her from that of his mother. Eventually though, he locked onto her, and saw a small twinkling light in the distance.

He moved himself towards it with all the willpower he could muster. She was far away, but he'd possessed a watermelon Steven on Earth all the way from Homeworld before. This would be no different. As he neared the light, he reached out for it, and grabbed it. It expanded instantly, enveloping him, and everything went white.


	26. Chapter 26

Rose Quartz peered out of the large viewing port at the sea of stars that lay beyond, her face forming into a malicious grin. Somewhere out in that endless void was Earth; a planet teeming with those despicable organics. Soon, Facet 31's plan would be ready to set into motion, and then, those organics would pay for corrupting the minds of the Diamonds.

Her thoughts turned briefly to Pink Diamond, who just days ago had stood before her in the body of one such organic. Rose was almost disappointed that the Diamonds hadn't been able to locate Facet 31 yet. She had been hoping to see Pink one more time, and make sure that she watched as her precious humans paid for their crimes.

Her reverie was interrupted when her right-hand Rose Quartz walked through the door behind her, and stood to attention. Rose turned away from the window to speak to her.

"At ease, old friend. We aren't in a Diamond's court now."

The other Rose's stance relaxed considerably.

"Now, do you have something to report?"

"Yes boss" the other Rose spoke formally yet with some familiarity. "The technicians have refitted 80% of the required systems. We should be operational in just a few days."

"Excellent" replied Rose. "I'll go and convey my gratitude."

The other Rose nodded, and left the room to attend to her own duties. Rose waited a moment before leaving herself. She hadn't lied when she said she was going to congratulate the Peridots, but it had been a half truth. She had also wanted an excuse to watch as the instrument of her victory was finalised. And, of course, a chance to visit their ' _guests'_ again.

As she walked down the brightly lit metallic corridors, she could hear the whirring and clanking of the work going on all around her. Just about very Peridot that Facet 31 had at their disposal was busy ripping out panels and rewiring what lay within. Some Quartzes, as well as some Ruby fusions, were doing the heavy lifting for them, but had wisely been excluded from anything too technical.

One of the Peridots looked enthusiastically up at Rose as she passed. "Rose! Rose! Just look at the progress we're making on these systems. We never got to work on anything like this back home!"

Rose smiled affectionately down at the small green technician. Though she'd only been leading Facet 31 for a few weeks, she had used that time to develop a friendly persona. It seemed like the most effective way to get the best out of her allies. Granted, it didn't always reflect what was under the surface; she'd had to mask her annoyance at how long winded the Peridots' reports could be more than once, but she made the effort to maintain it nonetheless.

"Excellent work Peridot. We couldn't be doing this without you and your team. Let me know if you need any more Quartzes to help."

The Peridot nodded absentmindedly at her, having already become absorbed in her work again. If there was one thing that Peridots could be counted on for, it was an almost fanatical dedication to their purpose.

Rose wandered on, exploring more of the new surroundings that Facet 31 had set up a temporary home in. After strolling for a little while, she came to a corridor that had already been completely modified. Cables snaked out of every panel, some running awkwardly across the corridor and plugging into the opposite wall. It wasn't exactly convenient, but all these modifications were vital if this place was going to be fit for their purposes.

As she carefully navigated her towering body between the cables, she was suddenly struck by the strange sensation that she was not alone. She looked around for a moment, and called out to ask if anyone was there. After a prolonged lack of reply, she shook off the feeling and moved to continue walking.

It was then that the sensation struck again. This time with an overwhelming intensity. It wasn't pain, or anything physical like that, but it could only be described as 'forceful'. It wasn't simply as though there was another presence with her. It was as though it was right on top of her; within her even. If it had been a noise rather than a feeling, it would have been deafening.

She clasped her hands to her ears, knowing that this would be futile, but feeling compelled to do so anyway. As she scrunched her eyes shut to resist it, she felt her body becoming numb. She fell to the corridor floor with a dull thud. The last image in her mind before she lost consciousness was a blinding flash of light.

* * *

Steven awoke in a daze at first. As his vision began to clear, he shook his head to get rid of the dizziness. As he did, long curls of pink hair flopped into his vision. Brushing it aside, he caught a glimpse of his huge hands, which were attached to chunky, muscular arms. He stood up, and regarded his reflection in one of the deactivated computer panels on the pink metal wall. The face that looked back was unmistakably Rose Quartz.

"It worked!" he exclaimed to himself, before nervously checking around to make sure no one had heard.

"Now I've just gotta figure out where I am" he said, still thinking out loud, but much more quietly.

He walked through the corridors for some time, hoping to find a console that was still active; though he wasn't sure he'd know how to operate it if he did. He knew he could try to milk information out of a Facet 31 member, but that carried the risk of giving himself away. Still, if he didn't find something useful soon, he'd have to risk it.

He could tell just by looking around him that the structure he was in had belonged to Pink Diamond; there was pretty much no other colour on anything. It was clear though that whatever this place was; Facet 31 was doing something very strange to it. Entire sections had had the walls ripped out, or the wiring rearranged, or the parts cannibalised entirely. If this place was being used as their base, why change it so much?

After a while he stopped to fiddle with one of the many deactivated screens, on the off chance that he could get it working and get shown some external view of the place. He was so lost in his efforts that he didn't even hear the soft footsteps of the Gem approaching behind him.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a small hand tap his leg. He spun round, and looked down to see a Ruby staring up at him. It was one of the group that he'd seen attend the Facet 31 meeting last time he was on Homeworld. She was beaming up at him in admiration.

"Hey Rose! Wow, fancy me just bumping into ya' like this. I figured you'd have super important stuff to do or something. It's an honour."

Steven did his best to reply as he thought Rose would, based on what he'd seen of her speeches. "Oh, hello there Ruby. Yes, I'm…quite busy. Lots of…important revolution stuff to do."

"You havin' trouble with that panel?" asked the Ruby, possibly trying to be helpful, possibly just trying to keep the conversation going. "Do ya' need me to get a Peridot?"

"No! Um… I mean… no, that's fine thank you. Say, what do you guys do for fun around here when we're not all busy? Y'know, stuff we can only do here." If he'd been talking to any other Gem, Steven would have worried that his line of questioning was too obvious, but he thought he could probably sneak it past a Ruby.

"Oh, that's an easy one" replied the Ruby. "I just go to the cells and glare at the prisoners rrrreeeaaalll hard. Y'know, to put 'em in their place!"

" _Prisoners?"_ Steven thought to himself. _"Did they capture some Gems during the battle at Homeworld?"_

He knelt down to the Ruby's height. "Oh, that sounds like fun" he said with as much charm as possible. "Can we go and do that now?"

"But… I thought you said you were super busy" replied the Ruby, looking slightly confused.

"It can wait" Steven replied hastily, patting the top of the Ruby's head with his large Quartz hand. "I'd like to hang out with you right now."

The Ruby's face lit up like that of a kid in a candy store. "Oh boy! C'mon, I'll take you there now!"

Steven followed after the Ruby, who despite her tiny legs was somehow running so fast that he struggled to keep up. After a couple of minutes, the two came to a door with a small viewing port set into it. The Ruby politely stepped to the side and gestured to the port. "I'll let you go first. Give 'em some real angry eyes."

Steven stepped up to the door, and peered through the viewing port. What he saw sent a chill down his spine. The room was dark, with the light from the corridor only penetrating into the first couple of metres, but he could still make out the figures within.

They were huddled together in fear, and clad in revealing blue and white outfits that Steven remembered all too well. Their faces, which were once the epitome of happiness, now wore looks of pure fear. It was the residents of Pink's human zoo.

Shocked into silence, Steven stumbled back from the door. Humans. They had _human_ prisoners. And he and the others had just been waiting around while these people had been suffering.

The Ruby looked up at him, concerned. "You OK Rose? Ya' look like they gave ya' a fright there. Don't worry, they're just a bunch of organics. They're harmless. And if they try to hurt ya', I'll beat 'em up!"

Steven tried to reply, but he couldn't form the words. Somehow, just like when he'd watched Rose kill that Russian agent, he was overcome by a wave of dread.

He felt his control of Rose's mind slipping. That was ok, he knew that she wouldn't remember anything that had happened while he'd been in control. At least this way he could get back and tell the Crystal Gems what he'd seen. As he felt the last of his mental grip release from Rose's mind, he gave into it. Rose's body slumped to the floor, and Steven was hurled across the ghost space towards the blinding white light of home.


	27. Chapter 27

"Rose! Rose! Are you ok?"

Rose groaned and rubbed her head as her consciousness returned. The Ruby shouting in her ear wasn't exactly helping with her headache. She groggily got to her feet and turned to the Ruby.

"Yes, yes. I'm fine Ruby." She said that, but she wasn't sure she believed it. It had mainly been to shut Ruby up for two seconds so she could think. What had happened to her? Why didn't she remember any of the last… however many minutes it had been. The last thing she remembered was standing in a corridor and then… nothing. The next thing she knew she was coming to her senses on the floor in a completely different corridor.

She knew she hadn't passed out from exhaustion. It took a lot to tire out a Gem, and even when it happened, they didn't lose consciousness like organics did… _Organics_. That was it. It must have been Pink. She and her humans were doing something.

Rose remembered the stories she'd been told after being unbubbled about what White Diamond had done to Pink's old Pearl. Though said Pearl had been released from White's control before Rose was freed, she had heard it described in enough detail to get a pretty good picture of what White was capable of. Had Pink persuaded White to try and exert some control over her too? Or was Pink powerful enough to do it herself?

The thought terrified her. She leant against the wall for support for a moment, trying to force the thoughts from her mind. She needed to be focused right now. If a Diamond _had_ taken control of her, then they had seen everything she had seen. Looking up, Rose saw the unmistakable cell door which contained her human prisoners. "If they saw that" she muttered under her breath "then they already know where we are."

She breathed raggedly for a moment, but as the Ruby watched on, concerned, that breathing warped into a twisted laugh. _"Let them come"_ Rose though to herself. _"They'll be too late anyway, and this way, I get to see the look on Pink's face as her precious colony dies."_

The Ruby was starting to look unsettled. "O…kay…. Well, I'm just gonna go…do…a thing! Yeah, that's right! A thing! I'll see ya' later Rose!" She turned and scurried off down the corridor.

Rose got to her feet and stared into the humans' cell. They were huddled at the back of the room, clearly trying to stay as far from the door as possible. Rose was still surprised at herself for letting them live, but the fact that these humans had lived their whole lives practically worshipping their Gem zookeepers made them less… offensive to her than the rest of their species. This, she thought to herself, was closer to how things _should_ be. If the rest of the humans had only had the good sense to bow down to the Gems in this manner, she wouldn't be preparing to wipe them out right now.

As she ruminated over this thought, two Amethysts walked up to her, their uniforms giving them away as members of Blue Diamond's court. The human zoo was crewed almost entirely by Amethysts, born on Earth, and subsumed into Blue Diamond's court after Pink's "shattering". As loyal followers of the Diamonds, they had been under orders to resist Facet 31 if they made any attempt to take the zoo, but Rose's superior forces had overwhelmed them.

She _could_ have had them thrown in cells with the humans, or shattered to set an example, but that was something Rose wanted to avoid. All these Amethysts were from the Alpha Kindergarten on Earth. Rose had served with many of them in her days as part of Pink Diamond's court. She even thought that she remembered some of their faces. So, out of kinship and respect, she had allowed them to retain their freedom, on the condition that they answer to her, and on the understanding that any attempt to send word to the Diamonds would not be tolerated.

She had even allowed them to continue their old duties, including tending to the zoo's humans, albeit in cells rather than their simulated habitat. Many of Facet 31's members had been disgusted at Rose agreeing to this request. They considered the Amethysts' apparent fondness for the humans a betrayal of the old values; no better than what the Diamonds had done.

But Rose had been insistent, and made it clear that anyone who interfered with the Amethysts without due cause would have her to answer to. She had the backing of all the other Rose Quartz, who shared her camaraderie with the Amethysts, so none of the other types of Gem had dared challenge her on this issue.

And so, in keeping with their duties, the two Amethysts standing before her carried trays of food for the humans; some sort of bizarre geometric fruits that looked like a cross between something one would find on a colony world and something built on Homeworld.

"Oh, hey Rose! Come to visit the humans too?" said one of the Amethysts, more cheerily than Rose had any patience for right now.

"Er…yes. But I think I've seen everything I need to see. I'll leave you two to your work." Rose replied hastily, excusing herself from the conversation. She walked off, leaving the Amethysts to try and calm the humans down enough to get them to eat something.

Rose made a b-line for the zoo's command centre, where she knew most of her senior officers would be, coordinating the remodelling efforts. She needed to speak to them as soon as possible, to let them know what had happened. If the Diamonds were going to attempt an attack, Facet 31 needed to up the pace. Their work had to be complete before the Diamonds reached them.

Her Rose Quartz generals seemed less than thrilled at the news, as did Emerald, who still had her crew working on repairing the Destiny Annihilator. The Peridots grumbled too. They were perfectionists, who didn't exactly like being asked to rush their work. Still, the idea of being found by the Diamonds before the plan was complete was a frightening enough thought that they all sucked it up and increased their pace as much as they could.

Rose even volunteered additional Gems to help. Most of Facet 31's Gems were either Quartz soldiers, or a random jumble of other types which had joined up later, so none of them had the technical expertise of a Peridot. Luckily though, Rose still had one contingency plan. There was one way she could ensure that even if Pink or Homeworld made their move, she'd be ready for them.

Once she had a moment alone, she went over to an unoccupied console, and keyed herself into one of the private communication channels. She was about to send a message when the door next to her slid open, to reveal Sapphire standing in the doorway

"Ah, Sapphire, I was just about to-"

"Call me? Yes, I foresaw that. What do you need?" Sapphire beamed at her. She seemed happy, almost excited, to be helping. With her future vision returned to her, her fringe was now permanently brushed to the sides, leaving the Gem she had in place of an eye on show.

Rose grinned smugly. Now there was nothing Pink, the Diamonds, or anyone else could do that she couldn't see coming.


	28. Chapter 28

**Crystal Gem house:**

Steven awoke with a start, to the sight of Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl leant over him in anticipation.

"Well?" asked Pearl. "What did you find out?"

Steven looked up at them with tears in his eyes. "They're at the human zoo."

"The human zoo?! What on Earth are they hoping to accomplish there?" Pearl wondered out loud. "It never had any tactical significance."

"They're not thinking about tactics" replied Garnet flatly. "The human zoo is a symbol of Pink's attachment to Earth. Whatever they're doing there, they want to send a message."

"They're holding the humans prisoner" Steven interjected, panic creeping into his voice. "I was so shocked when I saw them; I lost my hold on Rose. I couldn't find out what Facet 31 was actually planning there. I'm sorry, I-"

"Steven." Garnet reassuringly put her hand on his shoulder. "You've already done plenty. We know where to find them now. We'll go there, save those humans, and put a stop to this. That's all thanks to you."

Steven gave her a small smile, and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Thanks Garnet."

"Don't mention it. Now, we need to form a plan."

* * *

This time round, Steven knew they'd have to bring pretty much everyone in. Pearl set about contacting the Diamonds, while Garnet got hold of the various human leaders. Steven and Amethyst set about collecting together every Gem communicator they could find, as well as a few TV monitors that Peridot had modified into long-distance communicators while bored one evening.

Before long, Steven was sat in front of an array of screens; some physical; some holographic. He gazed up at the clock near his bed. The meeting was scheduled to begin at 11AM. As soon as the clock hit 10:59, the screens blinked into life. White, Blue, and Yellow each appeared on screens emanating from Diamond Line communicators, while the leaders of multiple countries appeared on all the other jerry-rigged screens.

Steven recognised Dalton, Azarov, Bujold, and Cowell immediately, as well as the Chinese leader, who Steven didn't remember the name of, and who had been strangely silent during Steven's last communication with Earth's governments. The faces of many other national leaders were also present. While Steven recognised them all from the Beach City conference, he again couldn't match names to faces. He'd just have to hope they either came up in conversation, or wouldn't be necessary to get through the discussion. This was going to be hard enough to explain as it was…

"...and that's how we know how to find them." Steven concluded his explanation and surveyed the bemused faces on the screens before him. The Diamonds had become so used to his bizarre behaviour by this point that none of them looked all that shocked. The humans however were going to be harder to win over.

The topic of the human zoo had been among the things that White had explained to them at the Beach City conference. She had done this knowing how detrimental it would be to interplanetary relations for this information to be discovered less officially. This had proven to be a very wise decision, as it now meant that Steven hadn't had to explain the zoo's existence to the listening humans before getting to his explanation.

Still, even with that issue out of the way, they remained incredulous. He couldn't really blame them. No-one who wasn't a major part of his life could really be expected to put much stock in his dreams.

Dalton spoke up first. The look in his eyes was more sympathetic than those of the other leaders, but he still looked concerned. "Look, Steven; I've given you a lot of autonomy concerning your handling of Gem-related issues, but you can't seriously expect us to just put our trust in a vision that came to you in a dream."

"What's more:" Cowell interjected "this whole business of you controlling other people's bodies; I'm not sure whether I even believe it, or how terrified I should be if I do."

Steven understood where he was coming from. After all, humanity had been suspicious enough of him when they first found out what he was. The knowledge that he could effectively possess people wasn't exactly going to set anyone at ease. It had taken a lot of effort on Dalton's part to prevent Beach City from becoming overrun with paparazzi, or worse, more anti-Gem protestors. It was clear now that even the leaders' patience with his explanations was beginning to wear thin.

The German leader spoke next. "I'm deeply concerned about the extent to which this may have jeopardised our security. Can you be sure that your taking control of Rose Quartz didn't alert her to your actions?"

"We're pretty confident" said Steven, putting it as assuredly as he could force himself to. "The people I move my mind into (he still didn't like saying "possess") don't have any memory of the time I spend in their bodies."

Though he said this, Steven wasn't all that sure himself. While she wouldn't remember what had happened, Rose would still be aware of the fact that she'd apparently forgotten a period of her day. Whether she traced that back to him or not, she would at least be suspicious.

"So you're saying you can't be sure" Bujold shot back. "Don't misunderstand us; we're not blaming you for the threat. We're well aware that this was precipitated by a…human action." On one of the other screens, Azarov wore an expression of sheepishness uncharacteristic of someone so large and menacing. He loosened his tie slightly, obviously still sensitive at the effect his slip-up had had on his reputation.

"However" Bujold continued, "we simply aren't sure that we want to greenlight actions that might worsen the situation. Your previous mission to Homeworld failed. Facet 31 escaped, and continues to threaten us. We have no assurance whatsoever that you and your 'Crystal Gems' will perform any better this time."

Steven was trying to think up a response when Blue Diamond spoke up from her monitor. She had stayed quiet during the previous meetings, content to let Yellow and White do most of the talking. But something about seeing these humans ganging up on Steven got to her. If she had had blood, it would have been boiling at that moment.

"Alright, now you listen to me! We've been very respectful and stayed out of human affairs until now. I don't think it's too much to ask for you to do the same with matter involving Gems."

Bujold looked like she'd just been slapped across the face. Her indignation overrode any sensible fear of the Diamonds, and she shot back: "When those Germs have made a direct threat against Humanity, it _is_ too much to ask. Don't presume that just because you're more powerful than us you can-"

"And what do you actually propose?" Blue cut her off with an icy tone, her usually soft features now looking so angular and severe that even Steven felt a chill down his spine. He hadn't seen her like this since the battle at Garnet's wedding.

Blue continued before Bujold could respond. "Do you even have a plan for dealing with Facet 31? No, of course you don't, because your weapons can't scratch them, and you wouldn't have even been able to find them without Steven. All _you_ seem able to do is wait around and hope for the best, so kindly continue doing just that, and leave this to the people who know what they're doing."

Bujold sat open-mouthed, unsure of how to respond. The sheer venom in Blue's tone had cut through her anger enough to remind her that she was dealing with a being who could break her in half with one finger; and while they were billions of miles apart, the thought alone was intimidating enough to shut her up.

Yellow wore a similar expression, but hers was out of awe rather than fear. She had almost never seen Blue like this. That speech had almost sounded like something Yellow herself would have said. Indeed, she'd been thinking it, but had stifled it for the sake of diplomacy. Still, she would have been lying if she'd said it wasn't exciting to see Blue like this. Yellow could get _very_ used to this side of her.

Dalton wasn't quite sure how to feel. On one hand, this sort of talk certainly wouldn't be beneficial to relations between Homeworld and Earth, but on the other hand, it made it more likely that the leaders would be pushed into deferring to Steven's plan, thus expediting the counterattack against Facet 31. And, on a more personal note, he found it very satisfying to see Bujold put in her place by an even more formidable woman. He found himself having to stifle a chuckle at the thought.

After an awkward period of silence, the Chinese President, who Pearl had reminded Steven was called Liu Wei, finally spoke up. He seemed the only one not in any way rattled by the discussion, or at least if he was, he wasn't showing it.

"Very well Blue Diamond, Steven; we will consent to your plan." Some of the other leaders looked taken aback that he was speaking for them, but were clearly unwilling to challenge the Diamonds themselves after Blue's outburst.

"However" Liu continued, "there are conditions. As we now know that there are human hostages aboard this 'zoo', this matter does concern the human race. Therefore, I must insist that you bring at least one human observer on your mission; one who is not affiliated with your 'Crystal Gems'. In addition, you must conduct this mission in a manner that does not put humans at unnecessary risk."

"And _how_ do you propose we do _that_?" Yellow asked indignantly. "We'll be sending a whole fleet to attack Facet 31. We can't exactly approach them undetected."

"Actually" Steven piped up, "The Crystal Gems and I had an idea for that…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the chapter's a few hours late; I just forgot about it this morning, what with the new eps and all. It's hard to believe that in two weeks time, Steven Universe will be over. This show is what got me into fic writing. I gotta finish transferring this fic to Ao3 so I can get on writing that post-Future content. Hope you're all still enjoying the story! Please don't hesitate to leave thoughts; your comments sustain me xD.


	29. Chapter 29

**The White House:**

Dalton stood over his bed, hurriedly throwing items of clothing into a suitcase. They were jumbled haphazardly, to the point that the case was clearly going to be difficult to close, but right now he didn't care. All that mattered was getting to Beach City as quickly as possible.

He had decided rather at the last minute that he was going to be joining Steven on his mission. He had been in attendance at the UN Security Council's meeting to select an observer to accompany Steven, and had been less than thrilled when the council had selected a member of the Chinese Ministry of State Security.

Normally the international community would have been wary of putting forward someone who was a member of China's equivalent of the CIA, but Chinese president Liu's strong response to the Diamonds during their last talk had won him a lot of fans. The leaders were clearly looking for a strong hand to ensure that Earth's interests were served on this mission, and so they had accepted Liu's recommended candidate, on the condition that all his findings be reported to the entirety of the UN.

Dalton though, was more sceptical. While he was sure the observer would do his job, he was well aware that the mood of the international community was swinging in the direction of planetary isolationism. Many countries seemed to believe that relations with Homeworld were more trouble than they were worth, and Dalton felt sure that the observer's recounting of the mission would be biased by that.

And so, after an incredibly brief consultation with his VP, Dalton had decided to join the mission as well, so as to give his own account to the UN upon his return. Dalton's long-suffering vice-president had already had a lot dropped on his shoulders since this mess had begun. Dalton's jaunts to Beach City, and near obsessive interest in the Facet 31 crisis even between visits, had left the management of basically every other national issue up to him.

Dalton felt a bit guilty about leaving so much to him; not to mention leaving him to deal with much of the public ire that Dalton's Gem-friendly policy had engendered. However, Dalton assuaged his conscience with the fact that his focus on the Homeworld issue would likely save a lot of lives in the long run. Even his detractors had to admit that the possibility of annihilation by an alien terrorist group was a pretty sensible thing to have as one's top priority.

As Dalton attempted to shove his toiletry bag into the already bulging case, his wife Amanda poked her head around the door, and then walked in, smiling and shaking her head slightly.

"Honestly" she said "I wonder how the American people would react if they knew their leader couldn't even pack a suitcase right." She spoke with a grin that told Dalton it was all in jest, but at the same time, he knew she hadn't come to see him just to help him pack.

"You can't talk me out of this you know" he said to her, keeping his eyes on the suitcase rather than meeting her gaze.

"I know, I know, just be careful, ok?" she replied, taking him gently by the chin and turning his head to face her. Amanda had known exactly the life she was walking into when she married him. James Dalton had been a military man for most of his adult life, and over the years she had become used to seeing him off as he ran headfirst into one dangerous encounter after another. When he had shifted gears towards a career in politics, a part of her had been grateful. Yes, this life had its own stresses, particularly now that he was president, and she was, by extension, first lady; but at least it had meant that he wasn't constantly under fire.

There were always assassination threats yes, but they were perpetually surrounded by so much security, and the attempts were so few and far between, that the feeling was entirely different from the fear she felt earlier in their marriage every time she waved him off.

And now, this Gem business had happened. Being the president to oversee first contact with alien life would have been a big enough challenge as it was, but the fact that said life was now posing a direct threat, and that her husband was once again running headlong towards it, rekindled some of the old worries she had worked so long to keep pressed down.

"I'll be as careful as I can, you know that" he replied, trying to sound reassuring, "but I'm not just going to stand by while a fight that might decide if mankind lives or dies goes on somewhere else. I have to at least be there."

"I know" she said quietly, not hiding her worry very well. He pulled her into a hug, and, staring over her shoulder at the display of his old medals that hung on the wall, whispered in her ear "I'm gonna keep you safe."

That finally shocked her out of her wallowing. Was he pushing himself this far because he was worried about what might happen to her? That was a very narrow view for the man running the country; after all, these Gem terrorists were putting everyone equally in danger. Still, James had always worn his heart on his sleeve, so of course he was worried about his loved ones first and foremost. Also, she couldn't say his words didn't comfort her.

As they pulled out of the hug, she kissed him briefly, and then looked him in the eyes. "Just make sure you keep yourself safe too."

* * *

**Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean:**

Li Jun stared out of the plane window at the sea below. The sun was low, and the orange light shimmered on the surface of the water. The sight was so tranquil; so soothing. It was easy to forget that the whole planet could well be in imminent danger. As for the extent of said danger; determining that, as well as evaluating the response, was his responsibility.

He had been selected as the observer to accompany the 'Crystal Gems' on their mission to deal with Facet 31. He'd been fully briefed on each of their identities and personalities, but their motivations, in his opinion, remained an unknown quantity. Could a bunch of Gems really be trusted to serve Earth's interests? Could he be sure they wouldn't hold back at a key moment, given they'd be fighting their own kind? The sheer fact that he'd been assigned his task indicated that the international leaders had the same concerns.

And then, of course, there were his other instructions; the ones that had been outlined to him by President Liu prior to his recommendation to the UN. Placing his briefcase on the table in front of him, Li opened it and, for the fifth time that trip, surveyed the devices within.

Some, he recognised; the usual weapons and surveillance devices utilised by his agency. Then, there were the others. Strange, angular devices that looked as much hewn from crystal as constructed out of metal. He had been shown how to use each one, though he lacked any experience with them in the field. Nonetheless, they would give him an edge. If it came down to it, and the Crystal Gems proved unreliable, or worse untrustworthy, he would be able to take matters into his own hands…


	30. Chapter 30

**Beach City:**

Steven stood nervously on the beach outside his house, absent-mindedly drawing patterns in the sand with his feet. He looked around at the group that had assembled at his request. This time, their mission to Homeworld was clearly going to be make-or-break, so Steven had brought in pretty much everyone.

Pearl, Garnet and Bismuth were busy carrying the last of the luggage out of the house. Amethyst was chatting to Lapis and Peridot, who had only just arrived after flying there themselves. Greg was helping Connie get her things out of the back of his van, having picked her up from her house a couple of hours prior.

It wasn't long before they were all due to set off. They were just waiting on a couple of things, the most notable of which was their observer. Steven knew that Earth's leaders had assigned someone to them to make sure they accomplished their mission, though he didn't see how whoever it was could be of any help. Connie had trained with the Gems to learn how to fight Homeworld. This observer would have no experience with this sort of thing; they'd probably just be someone else to protect.

Of course, he knew the actual reason this observer was tagging along. Earth's leaders didn't really believe that having a human present would help beat Facet 31; they just wanted someone to keep an eye on Steven and the Gems. They still didn't trust them. While he knew he shouldn't blame the humans for being cautious, he still found himself feeling frustrated. What was it going to take for these people to believe he was on their side?

Deciding it would be better to turn his mind to something else, he turned to the other problem. Their ride hadn't arrived yet. During the meeting, Yellow had brought up the fact that they couldn't approach the human zoo using the Diamonds' fleet; at least not without putting Facet 31's hostages at risk.

Steven had a ship of his own of course. The legs were currently exactly where he'd left them after the bubbled Gems were cured; lounging against the cliffside next to the temple in an almost comical pose. Sand had started to accumulate around the right foot, and Pearl had nagged him more than once that if he didn't take the ship out for a spin soon, it would start gathering moss. However, that would have to wait for another day. The giant pink pair of legs, aside from being attention grabbing in its own right, was also the only ship of its kind in the galaxy, so using it would definitely give the game away to Facet 31.

And so, Steven had explored an alternative. Now if only said alternative could actually show up…

* * *

After another few minutes of staring up at the sky, during which Steven occasionally looked down at his phone and wondered if he should call Sadie, the ship finally arrived. As it crested the cliff, the Sun Incinerator came into view. The setting sun gleamed elegantly off its angular design, the light obscured only slightly by the accumulation of dust on its surface. Evidently it hadn't been flown in a while either. Small landing struts extended out of it as it set down on the beach. Moments later, the door hissed open, and a familiar lanky pink figure stepped out.

Steven's face brightened instantly as he ran over. "Hey Lars!" he said cheerfully, high-fiving him in the torso. "Thanks for coming!"

"Ah, no worries" said Lars, returning the bizarre high-five slightly less vigorously. "As nice as it is to be home, I could use a little excitement."

Lars spoke in a jovial tone, but knew deep down that he wasn't joking. The past few weeks had been a… difficult adjustment. Being back on Earth was amazing, yes; but it had also been hard to get used to the slow pace of 'normal' life again, even in a place as weird as Beach City.

He loved watching his off-colour crew adjust to life on Earth, and he could often be found standing off to the side like a proud father every time they discovered something new, but there was a part of him that was still on edge; like he should be looking over his shoulder for an attack from Emerald at any time. Logically, he knew this wasn't true; the Emerald he had known was a loyal servant of the Diamonds, and, unlike another Emerald Steven had told him about, wasn't a member of Facet 31. She wouldn't be coming. But that knowledge couldn't make the feeling go away.

Sometimes, even innocuous sounds, like thunder, or a raccoon sniffing through his parents' bins, would cause him to spring bolt awake in the middle of the night, in full fight-or-flight mode. Such an event had happened just the previous night, when a clattering from outside had shocked him awake, startling Sadie as he yelped and sat up.

She had been concerned enough to see him that easily startled, and even more so when she found out moments later that he now slept with a Gem destabiliser under his pillow. She had hugged him from behind, gently kissed the side of his neck, and spent the next few moments assuring him that everything was ok. He had relented to lying back down much sooner than he normally would have had he been alone. On the nights Sadie wasn't visiting, he would often wander downstairs, destabiliser in-hand, to check the source of the noise himself, undoubtedly terrorising the local small mammal population in the process.

Everyone always did their best to comfort him, but none of them truly understood. He was glad about that. If they did, they'd probably think he was insane. After all, the sensation he felt in those moments wasn't fear, at least, not entirely. It was excitement. He had grown so accustomed to his life as a space pirate that the pace of life in Beach City had become almost…boring. He felt horrible for thinking this, after all, his parents finally had him back; Sadie finally had him back. But still, he felt it all the same.

Everyone seemed to expect him to settle back into his life (albeit a much improved version of the one he had led before becoming the man he was now), but he couldn't just readjust that easily. He often felt the urge to be back out there in space, aboard the Sun Incinerator, seeking out adventure and danger with his crew. A stupid thought, he told himself. After all, the only reason they'd been doing any of that was to get back to Earth; to live in peace. That was all his crew wanted. So why would _he_ much rather be back in danger again? He'd always _hated_ danger. Deep down, he knew the reason. He wanted to feel alive. He wanted to feel his heart pounding again, though of course, that was impossible. No matter how intense an emotion he felt; be it when he was woken in fear by noises in the night, or when he held Sadie; his heart repeated the same steady, agonisingly slow beat that it had retained since the day he…the day he died.

At least this mission would put him back in the captain's chair, and put him on an adventure with his friends again. The Off-Colours had all volunteered to take up their old stations. Despite their supposed aversion to conflict, the bond between Lars and his crew was such that at this point they would follow him anywhere. Sadie had offered to come too, but Lars had refused, stating that he didn't want her to get hurt. This was a perfectly valid reason given that unlike Steven, Connie, and himself, she had very little experience fighting Gems. OK, there was that one time on that island, but that wouldn't really be enough for where they were going. Secretly though, Lars had another reason for refusing her offer; one that went unsaid. Though he hated himself for thinking it, part of him didn't want a part of his old life coming to space with him. Out there, he could be someone else; an inspiring captain, an infamous pilot. It didn't feel right having someone there who mainly remembered his days behind the counter at a donut shop. So, he'd asked her to stay behind, simply reassuring her as best he could that he would some back safe.

He'd had to make the same assurance to his parents too. He hated making them worry. He knew that they must have been scared they might lose him again, but he couldn't stand sitting around his house any longer; pretending it hadn't happened; that he was still a normal human, or that he could just go back to school and a day job. No, _this_ was where he needed to be. With his crew; saving the world.

"So" he said, looking down at Steven, who was blissfully unaware of his mental turmoil, "when do we leave?"

"Not sure yet" replied Steven. "We're still waiting for one more person."

* * *

What neither of them knew was that they were actually waiting for _two_ more people. After another half an hour or so of packing and waiting around, a helicopter came into view, and landed on the beach nearby, kicking up billowing clouds of sand. Steven, who had been wearing a somewhat nervous expression, replaced it with one of pure surprise when the vehicle's passenger stepped out.

"President Dalton?!" he said, running over to him "What's going on? Are you our…observer?"

"Heh, I wish" Dalton said cheerily, though with a slight edge. "I just decided to come along too. No way I'm staying on the side-lines while you all risk your lives on something this important."

Pearl opened her mouth, clearly about to take issue with the idea of bringing yet another untrained human along for the ride, but Dalton pre-empted her. Raising his hand, he quickly added:

"I know, I know: fighting Gems is dangerous. Don't worry, I'm just here to keep watch and tell the UN what goes down. Just in case our other observer isn't on the up-and-up."

As if on cue, a taxi pulled up on the road closest to the beach. A slender, severe-looking Asian man stepped out, carrying a couple of small cases. Dalton of course already knew who he was, but his unseasonable business attire and steely expression likely would have given it away anyway.

The man walked over to Steven, set his bags down, and reached out to shake his hand. "Steven Universe? Li Jun, UN observer. I'll be joining you for this mission."

"Oh, yeah, hi." Steven said, trying to keep his tone from being too icy.

"Here, I'll stow your bags for you" interjected Garnet, sensing that in just about every possible future, this conversation got awkward if it continued too long.

"Thank you, but I can manage that myself" replied Li, picking his bags back up and striding on-board the Sun Incinerator, seemingly unfazed by the sight of a Gem spaceship. Steven and Garnet shrugged to each other, and everyone began to board the ship. It was going to be fairly packed with this many people, but desperate times demanded less-than-ideal living arrangements.

Minutes later, the ship's landing struts retracted as it lifted off from the beach, its anti-grav generators kicking up far less sand than the helicopter had not too long ago. As the ship rose above the head of the temple, Steven took one last look at Beach City through the front screen. He was going to make sure nothing happened to this city, or anywhere else on Earth. This time, he was going to keep everyone safe.

The Sun Incinerator activated its galaxy drive, and its form distorted towards the horizon as it jumped away with impossible speed. The booming noise of the jump faded, and all that remained was the sound of the ocean…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of the chapters which was most obviously written before the movie. I think it still works though; there's no reason Lars and Sadie couldn't have still been together 2 months after Change You Mind. Hope you liked it!


	31. Chapter 31

**Crystal System Colony Earth, approx. 6000 years ago:**

There was no sound; no light; no thought. There was only the earthy, comforting smell of the dirt around her. It felt warm and soft against the underside of her gem; made her want to stretch out to touch more of it; to grow. The long sleep continued, as she grew bigger with each passing moment. How long were those moments? Who was to say; they could have been instants, or millennia. Once she was big enough to touch all the dirt around her, at every angle, and knew without conscious thought that she could grow no more, she felt a second desire. She wanted to see; to move; to stretch the protrusions of flesh-like light that had grown from her gem.

That desire was answered. From beneath closed eyelids, she could see a change in the light as the earth around her began to glow, and hum. There was a muted bang, and she stumbled out into the bright, and cold, and noise. She opened her eyes, squinting in the unfamiliar abundance of light. Standing over her were three others, just like her in almost every way. They were tall, muscular, and their curly pink hair fell down past their waists. Before she could get to her feet, one of them walked forward and looked down at her.

"Oh, 9DS. You're up. Good, you can hang out with us until the rest of our unit emerge. Welcome to Earth."

**Rose's Saga, Part 1**

Without even being told, she knew exactly who she was: Rose Quartz: Facet 31, Cut 9DS. She knew what she was meant to do, too. None of the others had told her; she just instinctively knew. She was a soldier; an elite one at that. She and her comrades were the highest-ranking Quartz soldiers on this planet; the royal guard. She also knew who they would be guarding. Rose had never met her, or even heard her name spoken aloud, and yet the thought of her filled Rose with adoration and pride. Their Diamond. Pink Diamond.

As Rose and the others waited for the rest of their Facet to emerge, she gazed at her surroundings. They were in a valley so deep that you could scarcely see up to the sky above it. The walls were layered with strata in varying hues of muted pink, and were pocked with hundreds of holes, each one the former home of another Rose Quartz. This was a kindergarten. There were others on this planet, but none like this one; where the minerals in the rock made their colour match so beautifully that of their Diamond. It was for this reason that this site had been chosen as the Apex Kindergarten, exempt from the classification system that was used to describe the others.

Rose felt fortunate to have been born into such an honourable position. All the Quartz soldiers born on this planet contained Pink's essence to some degree, but in most of them it was mixed with the essence of either Yellow or Blue Diamond, changing their colour as a result. Only Rose Quartzes were created from Pink's essence alone, and as such, they were her quintessential soldiers. Rose smiled, eager to carry out her Diamond's wishes and aid in the transformation of this planet.

After waiting around for a few hours for the rest of their unit to emerge, the whole of Facet 31 got in formation and marched up the large ascending path carved into the kindergarten, until they reached the high plateau which overlooked the entire valley. Their task was to meet Pink Diamond at her palanquin, allow her to decide whether they were worthy of her approval, and then receive any orders which were more specific than their built-in programming allowed for. As they reached the highest point, the palanquin came into view. It was a bizarre sight; an ornate cage-like structure supported by four mechanical legs, not unlike those of the injectors they had passed on their way out of the kindergarten. It wasn't as large as those employed by the other Diamonds, but the knowledge that _their_ Diamond dwelled within was enough to strike awe into each and every one of the Rose Quartz.

The formation stopped in front of the palanquin, each of them forming their hands into a rather uncomfortable salute. Rose thought to herself that, while it wasn't her place to question the Diamond Authority, the salute was the one thing she would have chosen to change. The sparkling translucent curtain at the mouth of the palanquin pulled open, and Rose saw her with her own eyes for the first time; Pink Diamond. It took Rose a moment to see her at first; her various pink hues matched almost perfectly with those of the palanquin. As she got up from her throne though, Rose saw her in all her glory.

Her form was dazzling in its beauty. Rose couldn't put her finger on anything specific about her aesthetic that she actually had an opinion on; she was just programmed, as all Quartz were, to find the sight of her Diamond inspiring. However, one factor cut through Pink's brilliance. Though she was wearing a smile, she was ever-so-slightly red and puffy around the eyes. Rose was perplexed. Had her Diamond been…crying? What reason would a perfect being have to cry?

She discreetly darted her eyes around the palanquin, to see if anything was amiss, though, of course, she found nothing. The palanquin was empty save for the throne, and Pink's Pearl. Rose had heard about this Pearl. While they had been waiting for the stragglers to emerge, Rose and the others had chatted to a Peridot who had been working on one of the injectors. The small green Gem had spoken excitedly about Pink Diamond having received a new Pearl just a few days prior; one which all the Diamonds had chipped in to help design. Rose had wondered why Pink would need a new Pearl, given that a Diamond would usually have been assigned one from the start, but she dismissed the thought quickly. Owning a Pearl was basically a statement of power or accomplishment on Homeworld, and of course it was only fitting that a Diamond should have the nicest Pearl. If the fashion back home had changed, it wasn't unreasonable that the Diamonds would have swapped out Pink's Pearl to be more in keeping with the flavour of the month.

The Pearl was stood formally beside the throne, looking up towards Pink. Just as the Peridot had described, she wore a dress emblazoned in the colours of all the Diamonds. Rose knew that Diamonds were granted particularly fancy Pearls, but she imagined that this one would stand out even among those. Pink Diamond opened her mouth to address the group of Quartz, but closed it again and looked back towards her Pearl. The two smiled at each other, and Pink's formerly rigid stance relaxed slightly. Any Pearl would be expected to smile when making eye contact with their Diamond of course, but it was rather… unorthodox for the Diamond to smile back. Still, Rose didn't care. Her Diamond was perfect, so any personal quirks she might have were obviously the correct ones.

Pink turned back to face Facet 31 again, and this time began speaking as she had intended: "Hello! You all must be my new Rose Quartzes." A flicker of some unknown emotion crossed her face as she mentioned their Gem type, but Rose was far too enraptured in her Diamond's presence to care.

"Allow me to officially welcome you to Earth." Pink bent down to be closer to their height, and moved her head from left to right as she surveyed them, no doubt deciding which ones met her approval. "Well," she said after a few short moments, "it certainly looks like you've all emerged perfectly. I'm sure you'll all be fantastic members of my royal guard."

Rose wasn't sure how her Diamond had arrived at that conclusion. A couple of the Rose Quartz were slightly shorter, or less muscular, and she was pretty sure that 9DK had a slightly lumpy head; but hey, if Pink Diamond said they were perfect, then they were perfect.

Completely unaware of Rose's internal diversion, Pink continued her speech: "You're going to be accompanying me whenever I'm out in my palanquin, so… I hope we can all have a good time together!"

This seemed like a very bizarre thing to say, but Rose appreciated the suggestion. After all, any time spent in the presence of her Diamond was a good time as far as she was concerned. Granted, she had emerged only a few hours ago, so she had no other experiences to compare it to, but deep inside she was certain that there was nowhere she'd rather be.

The Pearl then stepped forward and recited to them the more long-winded aspects of their duties. Evidently Pink had little patience for this task, and had therefore delegated it to her servant. Over the next hour, the full scope of Rose's duties was explained to her. As well as guarding Pink's palanquin whenever the Diamond requested a tour of her facilities, she and her fellow Rose Quartz were to serve as commanders for the other Quartz soldiers to answer to. They were also to be Pink's elite executors, should it become necessary to use force to subdue Earth's organic population; though from what Rose had heard, that seemed unlikely. Earth's native life was widespread, yes, but most of it was incredibly soft and fragile. A Ruby could probably supress the lot of them if need be. Not that Rose considered the job beneath her of course; she was happy to aid her Diamond's efforts in any way that Pink saw fit.

When the Pearl finally closed the screen she had been using to read out the dizzyingly long list of details, she stepped back to her initial spot beside Pink's throne. The Diamond sat back down, and turned to regard the group of Rose Quartz.

"Well then" she said, looking somewhat relieved it was over "thank you all for coming. I'll leave you to oversee the rest of the emerging Quartzes. I'll call you all next time I want to inspect the colony. So um… I'll see you around!"

The Palanquin began to levitate, its legs folding underneath itself as it took off, and floated away towards wherever Pink's next destination was. Rose smiled as she watched it leave. If this was what it meant to be a Gem, then that was just fine with her. Her Diamond was flawless, her fellow Quartz were fun to be around, and the thought of her upcoming duties filled her with anticipation.

This was what she was meant to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next few chapters are gonna take a bit of a sidestep from the main story to focus on the backstory for Rose. Hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Also, I can't believe this is the last chapter that's going to be published while Steven Universe is still airing. :,( Hold me.


	32. Chapter 32

Rose's Saga, Part 2

**Crystal System Colony Earth, approx. 5800 years ago:**

Rose walked happily through one of Pink Diamond's many facilities. In the roughly 200 years since she had emerged, she had overseen the transformation of the few kindergartens and outposts into a Gem complex that had facilities all over the planet. Today, she was overseeing the construction of a spire by a group of Pink's Bismuths. The work had been going smoothly, and thus far there had been no attempts by the indigenous life forms to obstruct their work. Not that the indigenous life on Earth was much of a threat.

The supposedly dominant species there was a race of primitives called 'humans'. Rose had got a good look at them over the course of her duties, most notably when she had been serving as part of Pink's guard at the opening of the Diamond's new zoo. For some reason, Pink had expressed an interest in preserving some of the bizarre creatures. Externally, they generally resembled Gems. Some of them looked similar in shape to an Emerald, while others looked more like Rutiles. Rose didn't know why they seemed to be split into two categories like that; but then she didn't give them much thought at all, unless a tribe of them took umbrage with a Gem facility and decided to stage a poorly advised attack on it.

If she were being honest, Rose knew that her presence at the spire wasn't really necessary. She had fought humans before, and she knew how little threat they posed. They may have looked a bit like Gems, but inside, they were soft and squishy, supported by a framework of brittle structures that broke with almost no effort on her part. The Bismuths here could easily fend off an attack themselves, and normally, they would have been left to do just that. Today, however, was the day Pink Diamond would be receiving a tour of the spire site, and so the Rose Quartzes had been laid on as extra security. When it came to a Diamond's safety, only the royal guard would suffice.

As the time of Pink's arrival drew near, a few of Rose's fellow Quartzes joined her at the base of the spire. They were to receive Pink Diamond there, and escort her around the facility. As Rose and the others lined up, they shot each other excited glances. They got to see their Diamond a lot more often than most Gems did, but they still missed her when she was not around. This was not simply because of their inbuilt adoration for her either. In the two centuries they'd known Pink, she had proved to be a joy to be around; always brightening up the mood with jokes or pleasant conversation.

At first, Rose had felt awkward about having this sort of casual interaction with her Diamond; how could she even properly converse with a perfect life form? But after a while, she and the rest of the Rose Quartz had loosened up slightly around Pink, and their time with her had been filled with fun and laughter ever since. Well, most of the time at least. Every once in a while, at seemingly innocuous moments, like when she was being shown around one of her construction sites or receiving a report on Gem production, Pink would have these moments where she looked…wistful somehow. She would very quickly snap back into her cheerful persona though, and even with their greater familiarity with her, the Rose Quartz never had any desire to press her on the matter. Anything their Diamond hadn't decided to share with them wasn't theirs to know.

The line of Rose Quartz waited expectantly for Pink's arrival, but as the time scheduled for her tour drew near, there was no sign of her. They were beginning to wonder if they should make some sort of enquiry on the Diamond Line when they heard a commotion coming from the other side of the spire. Anticipating an intrusion by a group of humans, the Quartz soldiers rushed to the scene, only to find that the previous commotion had given way to hushed tension. Every Bismuth on the site was staring up at a hole which had just been blown in the spire. Once the smoke cleared, Rose's eyes opened wide in shock. Standing amongst the shattered metal were a Pearl… and a Rose Quartz.

The Pearl looked slightly familiar, but then all Pearls looked the same as far as Rose was concerned. Of much greater concern to her was this new Rose Quartz. Rose couldn't remember seeing this particular Quartz before, so it was likely that she had come from another facet. But what facet in the world would have uniforms like that? The Quartz was clad not in the dark pink jumpsuit which typified Pink Diamond's court, but in a flowing white gown which looked wholly impractical for combat. More to the point: what was another Rose Quartz even _doing_ here? Why did she have a Pearl? And _why_ were they currently standing at the site of an explosion?

Before Rose could continue her internal barrage of questions, the Rose Quartz in the gown stepped forward, and shouted in a voice that could be heard throughout the spire complex:

"Fellow Gems! You do not need to do the Diamonds' bidding! There is a better way, one that does not end in the destruction of this beautiful planet! Join us, and we will show you freedom and wonder the likes of which you have never seen! But resist us, and know that we _will_ stop you from harming this Earth. This spire will _not_ be completed."

Her Pearl stepped in front of her as she spoke, facing the crowd below, and the two Gems finished the speech in unison:

"We. Are the Crystal. **Gems**!"

Rose stood, frozen in shock. This new Rose Quartz was…a traitor?! Her body was locked in place, but her mind was running at light speed. _"How?"_ she asked herself over and over again. _"How could one of our kind do this? We're supposed to be Pink's most loyal soldiers. How could she turn against her Diamond?"_

The other Gems around her were quicker to react. Her fellow Quartzes pulled out their weapons; an array of translucent pink swords, axes, and maces, and charged at the traitor. Many of the Bismuths did the same; their hands shapeshifting into hammers or pickaxes. The traitor and her Pearl gave each other an earnest look, before diving from their perch into the throng of Gems. As they dived, the traitor summoned her own weapon: a circular pink shield. One of the Bismuth's smirked at the sight of it.

"A shield? If that's all you got traitor, this'll be rrrreeeaaalll easy."

The Bismuth charged at the traitor, only to be struck in the face as the Quartz threw the shield directly at her. It bounced right back to its owner, who then spun around to block the blows from more of her attackers. The Pearl meanwhile was demonstrating terrifying fighting prowess. She had been holding two simple-looking swords down by her sides the entire time she and the Quartz had been speaking, and she was now putting them to use. She effortlessly danced out of the way of attacks from Bismuths and Quartzes alike, as though everyone but her was moving in slow motion. Whenever an opportunity presented itself, she lunged, poofing her targets in a single stab. It struck the attacking Gems too late why the traitorous Quartz didn't feel the need to carry anything more than a shield. In every way that mattered, the Pearl was her sword.

Rose shook herself out of her delirium. She knew that if she didn't do something, these traitors; these 'Crystal Gems', would poof all her allies, and there was no telling how much damage they could do to the spire after that. Summoning her sword, she charged into the fray. The Pearl saw her coming, and moved to intercept, but was blocked by two of Rose's fellow Quartz, intent on backing up their ally. Taking the opening they'd given her, Rose charged towards the traitor, and raised her sword.

The traitor moved her shield with surprising speed, blocking blow after blow that Rose attempted to rain down. Rose considered herself one of the best fighters in her facet, perhaps her entire kindergarten, but she'd never seen a Quartz move that fast. Incensed, she twirled around, swinging her sword with as much force as she could. The blow finally knocked the shield from the traitor's hand, but the Quartz didn't falter, leaping away from Rose's follow-up attack.

As the traitor summoned a new shield, she looked Rose directly in the eye. "We don't have to fight you know. I'm only trying to set you free."

Rose snarled. How _dare_ this traitor claim to know what was best for her? Her acts spat on the reputation of all Rose Quartzes, and worse, the reputation of their Diamond. "Silence, traitor" Rose replied, finally calming down enough to form words. "You betrayed your Diamond, and for that, you're going to pay."

She charged again, dodging a spinning shield as the traitor sent it her way. She hoped that this might give her an opening, but the traitor had already summoned another before she even got close. The two traded blows frantically; Rose attacking with such ferocity that, even though her attacks were all blocked, she was managing to push the traitor back towards the wall of the spire. As they reached the wall, Rose lunged, but as she did, she saw the tiniest fraction of a smile form on the traitor's face. Her gown billowing in the wind, the traitor flipped over Rose's head, and struck her in the back with a well-placed blow from her shield. Rose spun round to face her, but was sent reeling by a roundhouse kick to the face.

Some of the Gems around them had stopped fighting, and were just watching the brawl unfolding in front of them. Most were watching on in confusion, or horror, but one Bismuth seemed to be watching in sheer awe; her eyes fixed on the traitor. Rose growled, and spun into a flaming wheel. It was an attack all Quartz soldiers knew from the moment they emerged, so she wasn't going to catch her opponent off guard, but the attack was almost impossible to stop if the Quartz behind it was powerful enough. She rolled towards the traitor at dizzying speed, but her target made no attempt to dodge. She simply raised her arm, and projected a shield twice the size of the previous ones. It held Rose at bay seemingly effortlessly. Though she was still spinning at high speed, she was getting no forward momentum; the traitor wasn't even budging.

Rose was stunned. How could there be a Quartz stronger than she was? She didn't get long to ponder this, as the traitor reached around the shield, grabbed her from the side, and threw her still-flaming form into the wall high up on the spire. As Rose crumpled away from the wall, the traitor jumped up to meet het her, hovering for an instant just above her. Their eyes met, and, in one last surprise, Rose saw not smugness in her enemy's face; but resignation. The traitor flipped forwards in the air, and kicked Rose directly downwards. Rose fell for almost the entire height of the spire, and crashed into the metal floor with a deafening boom.

Still not poofed, she struggled to her feet, but her body was barely answering her. Looking around, she saw that the Pearl had poofed the majority of the Bismuths… and most of her fellow Quartzes. The traitor floated down to land beside her Pearl. As Rose limped towards the two Crystal Gems, the warp pad at the base of the spire lit up. A sea of Amethysts and Jaspers poured out from it and a look of panic spread across the traitor's face.

"Pearl, time to go" she said, summoning a massive shield, and lobbing it at the spire with such force that it sliced the massive structure in two on a diagonal. The top half of the spire slid away from the bottom, and began to topple. As the Quartzes and remaining Bismuths ran for cover, the traitor and her Pearl leapt into the distance, leaving a trail of petals in their wake. A single Bismuth ran after them, presumably giving chase. Rose tried to follow also, but her legs gave out underneath her, and she fell to her knees.

One of her kind had betrayed their Diamond, and she hadn't even been able to stop it. She'd lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure no-one really wants to read a pre-movie fic on the day after the show ends, but I thought I'd put a chapter up anyway. I don't know how else to cope. That finale was beautiful; I love this show so much :,). 
> 
> Once I'm done transferring the remaining chapters of 'Missing Peace' onto AO3, I'll definitely get on writing some post-Future stuff. Until then, I hope you enjoy the story!


	33. Chapter 33

Rose's Saga, Part 3

**Earth, 5800 years ago, five days after the Crystal Gem attack:**

News of what had happened at the spire spread like wildfire in the days that followed. These 'Crystal Gems' mounted three more attacks on Gem facilities in the following days, joined by the Bismuth who had pursued them after their attack on the spire. It was unknown how they had recruited her, but all that mattered was that Homeworld hadn't been able to catch the three criminals, and Pink's court was falling into a panic as a result. Nothing like this had ever been documented on any colony world; Gems simply didn't rebel; it wasn't in their nature. Rose and her fellows were at a loss for what to do with themselves. They should be with Pink right now; making sure that she was safe, but their Diamond had been elusive since the Crystal Gems' appearance. None of her court had seen her, save for perhaps her Pearl, who was similarly hard to get hold of.

As Rose and the rest of the royal guard pottered about Pink's various facilities, a common thought played in all of their minds: who was the traitor? No facet had come forward to claim responsibility for the Crystal Gems' leader, and, being Gems of honour, it was unlikely any of the her fellow Quartzes were covering for her, so just where had this Rose Quartz come from? Their frustration at this mystery was exacerbated by the damage to their prestige that the Crystal Gems had caused. Until a few days ago, the Rose Quartz had been Pink's most trusted soldiers. Every other type of Quartz on Earth looked up to them, and followed their example. Now though, in the eyes of much of Pink's court, any one of them could be working with the rebels, and they were viewed with some suspicion as a result. Sometimes they would hear other Gems gossiping behind them; other times smaller Gems would back away when they approached, or change direction to avoid having to walk by them at all. For Gems who had derived so much pride from their status, it stung.

Unfortunately for the Rose Quartz, matters only got worse as the crisis developed. Rose was patrolling her old kindergarten; one of the few jobs she still enjoyed, as the now largely vacated installation didn't harbour large crowds of Gems to gawk at her. A few of her fellow Facet 31-ers had joined her, and they were chatting amongst themselves; trying to keep the conversation as cheerful as possible, but inevitably falling back into talking about the Crystal Gems every once in a while. As they approached the kindergarten's warp pad, planning to head elsewhere, the pad emitted a column of light, as a large group of Gems materialised in front of them.

An irritable looking Agate in a Pink Diamond uniform stood at the front of the group, flanked by multiple Amethysts and Jaspers; all of them dressed similarly. More bizarrely though, they were backed up by a group of Yellow Diamond's Topaz, and Blue Diamond's Aquamarines. Rose was somewhat surprised to see them. Had the crisis really got so bad already that two of the other Diamonds were intervening? The group of new arrivals walked over to meet Rose and her group, blocking their path. Rose glowered at them; it seemed they were looking to berate her like the rest, but she was going to give them an earful this time.

As it happened, she didn't get the chance. The Agate, as was her Gem type's nature, began speaking before anyone else could get a word in:

"You Rose Quartzes are to come with us immediately, by order of Blue and Yellow Diamond."

Rose couldn't contain her shock. "What?! Why?" she blurted out.

The Agate looked offended to have even been questioned, as opposed to blindly obeyed. Clearly she was used to outranking the Quartzes she spoke to. Visibly bristling, she shot back: "You seriously can't figure that out? I knew you Quartzes were mentally deficient, but _really_."

The Amethysts and Jaspers stood behind the Agate rolled their eyes. The Agate, completely unaware of the slight, continued: "The Rose Quartz acting as the leading figure in the rebellion is a black mark on your entire Gem type. Your presence disgraces the perfection of Pink Diamond's court. More to the point, since none of you have come forward with the identity of this traitor; none of you can be trusted. Hence, you are being removed from your positions on the court effective immediately."

Rose couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had given centuries of service to Pink Diamond's court, even struck up what could almost be called a friendship with her Diamond, and _this_ was how she was being treated? Being removed from the court for something another Rose Quartz did? She knew that Yellow Diamond implemented harsh disciplinary methods, but Earth wasn't her jurisdiction. Why would Pink allow this? Rose's expression hardened even further, and she stepped forward to glare down at the Agate.

"I'd like to take that up with Pink Diamond myself if you don't mind" she said, in a tone that made it clear she was making a demand rather than a request. "We are her royal guard after all."

The Agate was unfazed. "Not any more you're not. You Rose Quartzes are a mark of shame on this colony, and you will be relieved of duty whether you like it or not. Now, you can come back to Homeworld and be bubbled until this mess is resolved, or, if you force us, you can be shattered here and now. The choice is yours."

Rose's rage bubbled over. She was not going to take this lying down. She was going to get some answers from Pink, and she didn't care how many Quartzes, Agates, or Gems of any other kind she had to go through to do it. Smirking slightly at the Gems before her, she summoned her sword. The Agate took a step back. Whether this was out of fear or simply out of shock at being disobeyed wasn't clear. Some of the other Rose Quartz looked equally surprised; many couldn't even fathom the thought of raising a weapon against their own court. But Rose didn't care. She would do this on her own if she had to. She couldn't just surrender now, not without answers; not while the traitor was still out there sullying her good name.

The Amethysts and Jaspers looked less than eager to fight her, but the Gems from the other Diamonds' courts had no such inhibitions. The Topaz and Aquamarines drew their weapons. Reassured by her comrades' aggression, Pink's Agate regained her composure, and glared at Rose as she gave the order:

"Take them."

* * *

**Homeworld, 5750 years ago:**

Sapphire walked through the streets of Homeworld's capital, trying to ignore the whispers of the Gems around her as she passed them. She wasn't surprised that they were gossiping; anyone would be after the news Homeworld had recently received. A group of diplomatic Gems, sent by Blue Diamond to investigate the disruption to the colonisation of Earth, had been attacked by Rose Quartz and her Crystal Gems. During the resulting conflict, a Ruby and Sapphire belonging to Blue Diamond had fused, creating some sort of bizarre, hitherto unheard-of hybrid fusion. Blue Diamond had seen it with her own eyes, and had ordered that the abomination be shattered, but the Ruby and Sapphire had escaped, and the fusion had since been sighted fighting alongside the Crystal Gems at the sites of several skirmishes with the Diamonds' courts.

The news had shaken Homeworld to its core, and, much like what had happened to the Rose Quartz Gems when the rebellion began, the actions of this fusion were resulting in blowback for Rubies and Sapphires across the empire. They hadn't been purged from their Diamonds' courts like the Rose Quartzes had been; the Rubies were far too numerous, and the Sapphires far too valuable, for the Diamonds to consider this option. The impact instead had come from the stigma which their fellow Gems now held against them.

The Rubies hadn't been particularly bothered by the change in attitudes towards them; indeed, most were too absent-minded to even notice. The Sapphires though, did notice, and had been doing their best to hide the shame they felt at what the fusion had done to their reputation. There seemed to be a pervading attitude on Homeworld, at least among Gems who weren't particularly intelligent, that Sapphires were all prone to this type of fusion; that they were all just waiting for a burlier Gem to come along and satisfy their desire.

Sapphire didn't need an eye to see that this same belief was exactly what the Gems around her were gossiping about at this moment. As she walked, she caught snippets of their whispered conversations: "Look, there's another Sapphire." "Careful, don't get too close, she might try to fuse with you." "Looks like a right fuser that one." "Yeah, I bet she's gagging for it."

Sapphire clenched her fist, trying not to rise to their remarks. She wanted more than anything to turn around and make them all eat their words, but that would have been suicide on a variety of levels. Firstly, a Sapphire trying to take on a Quartz or a Topaz was a foregone conclusion to begin with. Secondly, with her Gem placed where her eye should have been, she was rendered completely blind the moment she intervened with the natural flow of events; a Sapphire was only as useful as their future vision after all, so she would have even less of a chance than one of her fellows. And thirdly, acting out would only jeopardise her position on Blue Diamond's court, and she couldn't bear to bring further shame on her fellow Sapphires by doing such a thing.

So, she swallowed her anger, stamped out the small patch of ice that had formed at her feet, and kept walking. The eyes of the gems around her followed her as she left, but she refrained from reacting to them, walking as fast as she could without looking like she was trying to move quickly; she wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of seeing her run away. As she walked with her head down, she thought the same thing to herself thing over and over again:

"One day this will pass. One day, things will be different."


	34. Chapter 34

Rose's Saga, Part 4

**Earth, 5700 years ago:**

Rose sprinted across the battlefield that had once been a pleasant meadow. In the last hundred years, the periodic skirmishes between Homeworld and the Crystal Gems had erupted into a full-blown war, turning much of Earth into scarred wastelands like the one she now found herself in. The mud drenched and coated her boots, and the smell of smoke and metal assaulted her senses. Every once in a while she would feel hard lumps in the mud beneath her, but she ignored them and kept running; not wanting to find out how many were hunks of metal, and how many were the shards of shattered Gems.

Before the war started, no Gem had ever seen anything like this. The only reason Gems even had a word for 'war' was to describe the conflicts that occurred whenever the local populations of the planets they were colonising decided to mount brave but ultimately futile resistances. Those conflicts were typically quick and one-sided; nothing like the chaos that was happening now, with Gems, and the power they commanded, on both sides of the fight. Homeworld had the number advantage by several orders of magnitude, and yet the Crystal Gems were still proving to be an issue. Every time a base of theirs was discovered, they relocated too quickly for the majority of them to be caught. Every time they engaged Homeworld's forces, they took out dozens of the Diamonds' soldiers for each one of their own that was lost. There had been talk of a near-perfect Jasper having come from Earth's Beta Kindergarten, who was now finally tipping the fight in Homeworld's favour, but if that was the case, it hadn't been in a tangible-enough way for Rose to notice.

She had been on the run almost constantly for the last century. Even now, she still frequently thought back to the events of the day she and her fellow Rose Quartzes were stripped of their honour and titles. She had been ready to fight for her life, but few of the others had been so willing. Compliance with authority was baked into a Gem's nature. It took a powerful will to overcome that desire; even now it still felt wrong to have fought her fellow Gems somehow. For some of the other Rose Quartzes, the thought had been too awful to consider, and so most of her facet had simply stood there as the Agate and her entourage poofed them. Rose and the few who were brave enough to fight with her had fought admirably; managing to poof most of their attackers, and escaping into Earth's wilderness before the Agate and her remaining guards could follow.

This had effectively made Rose and her allies into fugitives. Over the next one hundred years they, and any other Rose Quartzes who had escaped the initial purge, were hunted to the ends of the Earth by Homeworld's forces, when said forces weren't too preoccupied waging their war against the Crystal Gems. There were still a few of Rose's facet left, but their numbers dwindled with every passing day, as more and more of them were picked off by the Diamonds' soldiers. Every time they had tried to group together and lie low, they had been found, and Rose had had to watch time and time again as her fellow Quartzes were bubbled or shattered.

This had happened most recently just the previous day, when their makeshift camp had been happened upon by a patrol of Jaspers. Rose and the others had beaten them back, but not before losing half of their number. When the Diamonds' reinforcements arrived, they were forced to scatter, running anywhere they could, just as long as it was in the opposite direction from the blades of their pursuers. And so, Rose now found herself shambling across this wasteland of mud, and flames, and Gem shards, hoping that her hunters would lose her in the chaos.

As it happened, she got a lot more chaos than she had hoped for. An explosion just metres to the side of her knocked her down. As she got to her feet, her head ringing, she crested the slope she had been climbing, and saw where the blast had come from. She had thought this battlefield abandoned, but clearly she had wandered into an area that was still very much active, as small armies of Homeworld and Crystal Gems were still throwing themselves at each other in the lowlands below. Towering Jasper fusions, accompanied by hundreds of other Quartzes, Rubies, and more, were trying their best to pin down a Crystal Gem fighting force consisting of a jumbled collection of Gem types, including various bizarre fusions Rose had never seen before.

A small fusion with a large Square head was dodging her way impressively between artillery fire and the fists of the giant Quartz fusions. As one of the giants slammed its fist into the ground in front of the her, she ran up its arm, summoned two large gauntlets, and punched it in the face with such force that the giant was sent sprawling; splitting into its constituent Jaspers. A couple of dropships flew towards her position, strafing the ground with their blasters. The fusion was unfazed, leaping high into the air, smashing the cockpit window of one of the ships, and ripping the Nephrite within from her pilot's seat. Tossing the Nephrite aside, the fusion reached into the cockpit and yanked on the controls, causing the first dropship to collide with the second one. The fusion leapt off the ship moments before the collision, and landed calmly as the two ships exploded in a cloud of fire.

While Rose knew that the presence of this fusion should probably have intimidated her, she actually felt a swell of anticipation at the sight of it. She, like just about everyone else in the empire, knew who the fusion was. This was the fusion that had been recruited by the traitor fifty years ago, and had quickly become a senior member of the Crystal Gems. She had been sighted in many battles over the last half a century; usually in close proximity to the traitor, who Homeworld had taken to simply calling 'Rose Quartz'. Rose hated that her Gem type had become synonymous with treachery in the eyes of the Gem populous, perhaps even more than she hated actually being on the run. Still, her excitement remained. If the fusion was here, then 'Rose Quartz' was likely not too far behind. After one hundred years, she would finally get a chance to confront her again; to make her pay for what she had done to the Rose Quartz legacy.

Rose stuck to the edge of the battlefield, trying to avoid drawing too much attention to herself, while simultaneously flanking around to whatever position the Crystal Gems were trying to attack; after all, if they were trying this hard to press into Diamond territory rather than simply relocating, it was likely that the rebels' leader was on the front line herself. That was where Rose would find her, and enact her revenge. Despite her efforts, Rose wasn't able to stay out of the fight entirely. Along the way she came across a couple of squads of Homeworld Gems, who had no doubt had the same thought as her. She dispatched them with relatively little effort; years on the run having honed her already formidable fighting skill. Even after she had made it all the way to the back of the Homeworld Gems' defensive line, the fighting was still going on around her; the rebels had evidently pushed deep into this part of Pink's territory. Rose longed to be at her Diamond's side, defending her from this assault, but she knew those days were long gone.

Getting to a vantage point, she found herself overlooking a large hill, which only a few isolated Homeworld Gems had managed to reach. The battle was still ferocious, but the hill seemed relatively quiet compared to the constant deafening noise that had typified the rest of the battlefield. That was when she saw it; sat on the hill, surrounded by skirmishing Gems: Pink's palanquin.

Rose's eyes widened as she stared at the walking throne where she'd spent so much of her early life; a sight she hadn't seen in over a century. She found herself overflowing with questions: What was Pink doing here? Had the Crystal germs really managed to push so far into her territory that they had cut her off from her guards? Why was her palanquin just sitting there? Diamonds were powerful, but standing around in the middle of a battlefield was unwise even for one of them.

Rose approached the palanquin, trying to stay hidden behind what little foliage remained on the heavily blasted hillside. As she got closer she could see the battle unfolding around the palanquin clearly. Small groups of Crystal and Homeworld Gems were engaging in melee or hand-to-hand combat all around the palanquin. The scuff marks all over their bodies indicated that they had been at it for a while. The Crystal Gems had fought a battle of attrition to reach Pink, and it appeared to finally be paying off for them. Gems of every type, all bearing the star emblem which identified them as members of the rebellion, were doing their best to hold back the Homeworld reinforcements who were now doubling back on themselves to protect Pink Diamond. A large, brownish Quartz was making short work of a Homeworld Ruby fusion; splitting it into its component Gems in a single titanic punch. All but one of the Rubies jumped on the Quartz, attempting to swarm her. The remaining Ruby, whose gem was positioned in place of one of her eyes, ran on ahead towards the palanquin, obviously hoping to reach Pink before the rebels did. Sensing that this might be her last chance to get to her Diamond, Rose did the same.

At that moment, Pink stepped out of her palanquin. She looked tense, but not panicked; showing remarkable composure for someone in the middle of a warzone. Rose wondered just how much fighting the Diamond had seen in the century since they had last spoken. Abandoning all attempts to stay in cover, she began running towards Pink. Unfortunately, neither she nor the Ruby got the chance to reach her. As Pink looked on at the battle unfolding around her, Rose Quartz; the one leading the Crystal Gems, stepped out from behind Pink's palanquin. She must have been lying in wait for the Diamond to emerge. Spotting the traitor, Rose cried out, but to no avail. As Pink whirled around to face her attacker, the Crystal Gems' leader swung her massive sword, and cleaved Pink in two, slicing right across her Gem.

There was a painful, high pitched shattering sound as Pink's physical form exploded into a cloud of smoke. All the Gems in the area stopped fighting the instant Pink was struck; many of them still holding each other in the mid-battle poses they had been in beforehand. They all just stopped, and stared at the scene. When the smoke cleared an instant later, several unmistakable pink shards lay in the dirt at the rebel leader's feet, glinting in the moonlight. Her fist was clenched, almost as though she was angry somehow. Why? Why should she be angry? She had just won a massive victory; she had just shattered a…

The reality hit Rose as her emotions caught up with her. Pink was gone. Her Diamond; her perfect Diamond, had been shattered. The Ruby, who was now stood mere metres away from her, looked similarly devastated. The two fell to their knees, unable to support themselves under the weight of their grief. The rest of Homeworld's soldiers rallied more quickly though, channelling their sadness into rage. Many took advantage of the Crystal Gems' distraction to break through the lines and charge at the rebel Rose Quartz. They didn't even come close to catching her. The Crystal Gem glared at them for a split second, before leaping away with shocking agility. Most of her fellow rebels followed her, with a limited amount staying to delay their pursuers. In mere moments, the Gem who had shattered a Diamond had disappeared over the horizon.

As the remaining Crystal Gems broke off their attacks, and attempted to join their leader in escaping, they were pursued by a portion of Homeworld's army. The rest of the Homeworld Gems, who were not currently chasing the rebels, advanced on Rose, who was curled up in a ball in the mud. She knew she shouldn't be feeling such grief at the loss of a Diamond who had abandoned her and left her to fend for herself for a century, but the sight of Pink's shattered remains still felt as though someone had ripped out her own Gem and thrown it into a fire. As the Homeworld soldiers surrounded her, she no longer felt any desire to attempt an escape. Rising to her knees, she looked up at one of the Quartzes above her.

"Go ahead" she said; her voice trembling. "Just do it."

The soldier obliged, bringing their blade down upon her. Rose embraced it, feeling almost eager to let go. She felt her body dissolve in an instant, and then, the world faded to black. There was nothing…


	35. Chapter 35

Rose's Saga, Part 5

For the second time in her life, there was no sound; no light; no thought. This time though, it was different. There was no smell of earth around her; no soft touch of the dirt against her facets. There was nothing. She was floating in an empty void; there wasn't even any gravity here with which she could orient herself, or to pull her down to feel the floor against her gem. She drifted in this sensationless sleep for an indeterminate time; it could have been moments; it could have been millennia, but somehow, even in her unconscious state, something told her it was the latter.

And then it ended. The sensation of weightlessness was what disappeared first, and she fell for an instant before being supported by a surface underneath her. Her sense of touch returned a nanosecond later. The surface that she was sat on felt soft and warm against her crystalline edges; not like the dirt; even softer, and… moving slightly. A hand. The hand lowered her onto a harder, cooler surface, and she felt her strength return to her. She felt the protrusions of light-flesh expand outwards from her gem, reaching to touch the floor underneath her. As her sensory organs formed, she took in the dull pink light through her closed eyelids, and began to notice the low electronic hum that played in the air around her. Her form completed itself within a matter of seconds, and Rose Quartz was whole again.

**Homeworld, Era 3:**

Regaining control of her muscles, she opened her eyes, and looked up. The room she was in was pink, with smooth walls and a ceiling so high that the walls vanished into darkness before she could see the top. Hanging in the air were hundreds of bubbles, each one holding a gem just like hers. Perhaps the most attention-grabbing thing though, was the sight of the two gargantuan figures standing over her. Stood hand-in-hand, looking down at her with sheepish expressions, were Blue and Yellow Diamond.

Rose started back at the sight of the two Diamonds. Had they come to exact some sort of punishment on her and her fellow Rose Quartzes? Was bubbling them not enough? The longer she stared though, the more apparent it became that the Diamonds weren't advancing on her. Indeed, Blue and Yellow were doing nothing, save for shooting each other a nervous glance. After a period of tense silence, Yellow finally spoke:

"Err… hello there… Quartz. There are some things you deserve to know."

After explaining to Rose how much time had passed, and assuring her that she wasn't in any danger, the Diamonds set about unbubbling all the other Rose Quartzes in the room, one or two at a time, and giving them the same assurance. When the process was finally over, dozens upon dozens of the pink Quartzes stood before them in the chamber. Instinctively, many had lined up in formation, as was expected when in the presence of a Diamond. Others though, either confused or on edge, had kept to themselves. The result was a rather messy grouping that formed no particular shape. But the Diamonds didn't snap at them, or order them to stand to attention; quite the opposite in fact. Yellow told them to stand at ease, though very few of them actually relaxed.

"Well then", said Yellow, as Blue stood awkwardly beside her, "it's time we tell you all what has happened."

The Diamonds spent the next hour or so telling the group of Rose Quartz everything. They told them about Pink, and how she had fallen for the strange little planet she had been meant to colonise. They told them of the identity she had forged to live among the organics and her colonists. They told them of her efforts to protect the Earth, and, when those efforts proved to be in vain, the fight she had waged against her own family to stop the planet's destruction. As they went on, the stories somehow became even more bizarre. They told them about 'Rose' and the life she had led on Earth; and about how it had ended. They told them about Steven, the Gem-Organic hybrid who now carried her essence. Finally, they told them about the young hybrid's incredible achievements; how his actions had reshaped the entire Gem empire.

In the sea of shocked faces that followed, none were less surprised than Rose. The reactions from her fellow Quartzes ranged from fear to trepidation to outright amusement. Some even looked relieved. Rose though, along with more than a few of her fellows, was seething with barely contained rage. Smart enough not to make an outburst in front of two Diamonds, she settled for ranting inside her own head:

" _A lie?! All of it was a LIE?! Pink used us as a cover story to rebel against her own court, and she didn't even tell us?! And for what? A bunch of organics?! Were their lives worth the reputations of all Rose Quartzes?!"_ Rose had more questions than her mind could comfortably articulate in one sitting, but all were linked by one overriding feeling: betrayal. Why had Pink turned against her own race, after everything her Gems had done for her? And even with that being the case, why hadn't she brought the Rose Quartzes in on it? As much as Rose had been loyal to Homeworld, she had to admit that she might well have gone along with this whole 'rebellion' business if Pink had just asked her to. She never could say no to her Diamond, but evidently the fondness hadn't been mutual.

As the Rose Quartzes began to chatter amongst themselves, Yellow spoke up again:

"Well, you're all free to go. You must be very curious after everything you've just learnt, so we'll leave you to get acquainted with the new status quo however you see fit. So, err… have a nice day."

As the two Diamonds turned and walked out the door, Blue turned to Yellow, a small smirk crossing her face. "Have a nice day? That's what you're ending on?" Yellow narrowed her eyes at her. "Shut up" she muttered back, before looking away. She was embarrassed by Blue's remark, but she had to admit, she did _really_ need to work on her people skills.

* * *

Once the Diamonds left, the conversations between the Quartzes continued, each of them eager to discuss their impressions of this shocking news. Of the dozens of Rose Quartzes who had heard the Diamonds' story, many were as angry as Rose was. But there were just as many who had no idea what to think, and even a few who seemed eager to experience the changed Homeworld that Yellow and Blue Diamond had described to them. As the groups went their separate ways, and headed off to explore what Homeworld had become, one thought remained in the minds of Rose and those who thought as she did: _"This isn't over."_

As the days passed, they quickly found that while Homeworld's society purported to be less restrictive, and more welcoming, things were still less than ideal if you happened to be a Rose Quartz. Millennia of their name being synonymous with a figure who was once thought to be the greatest criminal in Gem history hadn't done wonders for their reputation. Even now that the populace knew the truth about Pink Diamond, none of them had seen a real Rose Quartz before, and weren't particularly good at hiding the fact that they found the new arrivals intimidating. For many, the name 'Rose Quartz' had become little more than a myth. Some of the populace had believed that the Crystal Gems' leader was some sort of organic beast native to Earth, while others thought she was an aberration born from a vein of hyper-defective Quartz. There were even those who believed that Rose Quartz had never existed at all. Rose and her fellows did not know why none of the surviving Era 1 Gems had made any effort to disabuse the Era 2's of this notion, but they imagined that the Diamond's had done their best to cover the whole mess up, until this 'Steven' had forced the knowledge into the open.

Rose met frequently with any other Rose Quartzes who felt, as she did, that some retribution was required. She was gratified to find that many of them were old friends who had emerged alongside her as part of Facet 31. Under her leadership, they began planning in secret to affect a return to the old ways, before the organics that Pink had betrayed them for could have any further effect on Homeworld. They christened their movement in honour of their old Facet, and willingly welcomed into their ranks even those Rose Quartzes who had been born from other Facets; as many as they could bring round to their way of thinking. As the organisation grew in the shadows, they even began recruiting other types of Gem. It seemed that Gems from all walks of life were dissatisfied by this new regime. Eking out an existence in the labyrinth of passages that lay below the surface of Homeworld, they began to assemble a fleet of ships, comprised of vessels belonging to their new recruits, as well as any old Era 1 ships that had fallen into disuse, and wouldn't be noticed if taken.

It was from these underground caverns that they began constructing their master plan; one that would make the organics suffer for stealing their Diamond's heart; one that would show Homeworld that this new era could not last. And, Rose mused exclusively to herself, one that would force her backstabbing Diamond to watch as everything she had built was destroyed.

* * *

**Present day:**

Rose sat in the command chair of the human zoo, her head resting lazily on her fist as she stared out via the main viewscreen into the inky void of space. Staring in the vague direction of Earth, though the planet was completely invisible from this distance, she liked to pretend she was staring right into Pink's eyes, daring her to try to stop them. As she wallowed in her malice, her right-hand Quartz, 1NX, approached her from over her shoulder.

"Rose, I've just received the technical reports from our head Peridot. Modifications to the zoo station are 98% complete. Test fire should be available in a matter of hours."

"Excellent" replied Rose, smiling now as she continued to stare out into space. "Pass on my congratulations on a job well done."

1NX nodded and marched away. Rose stood up from her chair and walked up to the viewscreen; lifting one hand in the position where she pictured Earth would be, and closing her fist around the imaginary planet.

A matter of hours… Just a little more waiting and this would all be over…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well then, here we are. That's the story of how Rose Quartz and Facet 31 came to be. I hope this added a new dimension to her for you. The main story will  
> resume next chapter. See you then!


	36. Chapter 36

**Sun Incinerator, en route to Human Zoo:**

Li Jun stared around the ship; his eyes still boggling. He had been briefed on the Gem race prior to the mission of course, but nothing could have prepared him for the sight he now found himself faced with. The Gems which sat at the consoles of the Sun Incinerator were bizarre even by the standards he had been led to expect. One (or was it two?) appeared to be joined at the torso, with only one set of arms and legs between them. Another, at quite the opposite end of the spectrum, had two sets of arms, and two sets of eyes. Perhaps most bizarrely, the Gem working on the lower floor would sometimes come up to chat to the others, revealing a massive, caterpillar-like body that scarcely fit inside the bridge. Li had tried to maintain his composure in the interest of looking professional, but in an environment like this even a master poker player would have had their mask slip.

He walked over to the back wall and sat down, propping himself up against the pile of luggage that had been erected there. It was all he could do to avoid showing how much his legs were wobbling. Besides, it helped him keep an eye on his briefcase without looking too suspicious. He was fairly confident that his earlier refusal to allow one of the Crystal Gems to take his luggage had simply come across as being impersonal, but it wouldn't have been wise to draw any more attention to it. The contents, and the portion of his mission which they pertained to, were classified. His orders were clear that not even the American President Dalton, much less a group of aliens, was to be allowed to become fully aware of the scope of the mission. His thoughts turning to said President, Li's eyes scanned the room, until he noticed Dalton, intently watching the ship's operators at work at the consoles. Since the negotiations between humanity and the Gems had begun, the American President had seemed increasingly fascinated by them. Li wondered whether this fascination was hindering the American's ability to appraise their threat rationally. Still, he comforted himself with the fact that it didn't particularly matter whether Dalton understood the danger or not. If the President slipped up, Li would clean up the mess himself.

* * *

Dalton peered over the shoulder of the Gem, or Gems, operating the console in front of him. Homeworld and Earth had exchanged cultural information following the Beach City Conference, and while reading through the less-than-concise document, Dalton had learnt about the process of 'fusion'; two or more Gems effectively merging their bodies together, becoming a being that was simultaneously the minds of the components, and a third distinct intelligence. Frankly, he hadn't really been able to wrap his head around the concept, and the Gem sat in front of him only seemed to confound him further. He had never heard of a fusion having two heads which were able to talk to each other freely. He feared it might be a rather private matter to ask about, but they were all going to be on this ship together for a while, and thus far an awkward silence had pervaded the room. No-one seemed fully comfortable with the human observers watching over them, as and one of said observers, Dalton felt partially responsible for the tension. Perhaps asking them something about themselves might get everyone to open up a bit.

"So, uh…" he began, leaning over to catch the eye of one of the two heads, "I heard about the, uh, thing you Gems do, but I didn't know you could actually have a conversation with yourself while doing it."

The two strange, chisel-like heads turned to look at him. "What do you- Oh, no no" one of the heads chuckled. "We're not a fusion" said the other, in a slightly higher-pitched voice. "We're just a Rutile that came out wro-… differently" The lower-pitched head then cut back in "Captain Lars told us there were some people like us on your planet too."

After thinking for a millisecond, Dalton realised what they were talking about. "Oh, right! Conjoined twins. Yeah, we do have those. It's pretty uncommon though; I've never met any myself." Smirking a little, he added: "though my wife and I have been described as 'joined at the hip' at times."

The Rutiles looked momentarily confused; one of them looking quizzically at his pelvis. "Is she…under your appearance modifiers?"

Dalton let out a chuckle of his own this time. "No, no. It's an expression. Anyway, I heard that you Gems are grown rather than born, so, if you don't mind me asking, how do Gems like you two even come about?"

Dalton and the Rutiles happily chatted from then on; the Rutiles explaining the finer points of Gem kindergartens, as well as what it was like to be two minds sharing one lower body. Another Gem; Rhodonite, chimed in to explain _actual_ fusion, and Dalton shared some stories from Earth in turn. Before long, the tone at the front of the bridge had lifted considerably, as various Gems and Humans joined the conversation.

* * *

Garnet stood against the back wall, smiling slightly as she watched the discussion unfold. This human had a talent at winning people over. There were no prizes for guessing how he'd got elected. She'd seen it in a lot of Human politicians over the centuries; sometimes genuinely; sometimes merely a mask. Still, this kind of dialogue was exactly what Earth and Homeworld needed right now, so she resolved not to be too critical of it. As she looked around the room, she saw that pretty much everyone on the bridge had split off into small pockets of conversation. Pearl and Connie seemed to be going over some sort of sword technique, Peridot and Lapis seemed absorbed in whatever Peridot had on her tablet, and Bismuth and Amethyst were joining Dalton's conversation with the off colours; Amethyst taking great pleasure from blowing his mind with bizarre shapeshifting. There were only a few people not engaged in smalltalk: Lars was sat in his Captain's chair, observer Li was sequestered away next to the luggage, as antisocial as he had been on the beach, and Steven was over in an unoccupied part of the bridge, staring out of a viewing port.

Knowing that Steven wasn't exactly the type to avoid conversation unless something was eating at him, Garnet headed over to him. He saw her reflection in the viewing port as she approached, and turned to greet her. "Hey Garnet, what's up?" he asked, feigning a smile that might have fooled most of the others, but not her.

"Oh, nothing, I'm fine" she replied "but I'm sensing that might not be true for you."

"Oh, right, future vision..." Steven mumbled, turning away and leaning his elbow on the ledge of the viewing port with his palm on his cheek.

"I don't need future vision to tell when something's bothering you" Garnet replied warmly, turning him back round to face her and kneeling down to look him in the face. "Come on Steven. You can tell me."

Steven looked away for a moment, thinking of how to articulate his thoughts, before finally replying:

"It's just… I'm so sick of having everything I do be connected to Rose- my mom, I mean. Everything that's happened to us since we started fighting Homeworld was because of her in some way, even the stuff that wasn't her fault… I was…just starting to enjoy everyone doing things that had nothing to do with her. Ruby and Sapphire decided to stay fused for their own reasons, instead of just because she said so. Pearl's going out and being a cool single Gem out on the town, and she hasn't even _talked_ about mom in weeks. I just…thought we'd finally moved on from everything being about her. I was scared when the Facet 31 thing happened, but I figured at least it was something new. But no; it turns out this new Rose is just another person my mom hurt. How many more times are people gonna get put in danger because my mom hurt someone's feeling Garnet? How long are we gonna have to keep doing this?"

Tears were beginning to form in the corners of his eyes, but Garnet wiped them away gently, and pulled him into a hug. Then she spoke softly into his ear:

"Steven, your mother isn't to blame for anything that's happening now, this new Rose Quartz is. Sure, our Rose didn't always think about peoples' feelings, but none of _us_ started hurting people because of that. The person we're fighting now had a choice about how to respond to their pain, and they chose the wrong way. You can't just keep lumping all of the blame on Rose. It's not fair to her, and it's not fair to you. I know you're worried about Earth, and that you feel bad for Facet 31's Rose Quartz, but I think you're making this too much about you. You feel like your work isn't done until you've personally apologised to everyone our Rose hurt, but that isn't your job. The war lasted for centuries; it might take just as long to heal all the scars it left behind. If you try to do it all yourself, you'll spend your entire life on it. That isn't what Rose wanted for you."

Steven widened his eyes. He thought back to the tape his mother had left him; how she'd spoken about wanting him to live happily, on Earth, as a human. He'd decided a while ago that he wasn't going to obey that wish entirely; after all, it had stemmed from Rose's guilt about being a Gem; her belief that her people were a lost cause. Now that he knew better, he wanted to be involved with both planets. He was as much Gem as he was Human, and the Diamonds were as much his family as his dad and the Crystal Gems were. But his mother had been right in one way: the same way that Garnet was right now. She didn't want him to have the weight of two worlds' problems on his shoulders. He wasn't sure what he could do so start feeling that weight less, but he was willing to try.

Pulling back from the hug, he smiled up at Garnet; a genuine smile this time. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks Garnet."

"No problem" she replied; her golden visor twinkling. "Now" she said, turning them both back to the window "I'll join you watching those stars, if that's ok."

He squeezed her hand and smiled as she stood back up next to him. "It is."

* * *

The two of them stayed at the window for much of the rest of the trip, though Steven and Connie both left their respective conversations to have a nap after a few hours. Dalton and Li tried to do the same, but neither seemed able to relax enough to drift off. Lars however stayed in his chair pretty much the entire flight, only getting up and pacing around when his legs fell asleep. That was pretty much the only thing about him that _did_ sleep. He was still human, so he needed sleep every once in a while, but with his bodily processes slowed as far as they were, he didn't get through energy quickly. Back on Earth, he tended to lie awake most nights, which suited him just fine; fewer nights that he could get frightened awake by noises that he had convinced himself were some evil Gem coming to kill him. On a long flight though, it did make the hours pass very slowly, and there were only so many times he could make a captain's log before he ran out of things to say.

He was finally shaken out of his boredom-induced trance when his console started beeping, indicating that they were nearing their destination. "Rutile, drop us out of gravity drive, and take us in slowly" he said, excited to finally see some action.

"Yes Captain!" "Dropping out of gravity drive now." Replied the two Rutiles one after the other.

"Captain!" yelled Padparadscha from her station "We're about to arrive at the Human Zoo!"

"Heh, thanks Padparadscha." He replied. While he felt kind of bad for being amused by his technical advisor's delayed predictions, her joy at receiving them always lightened his mood.

Garnet gently shook Steven and Connie awake, and the whole crew gathered at the front of the bridge; with even Fluorite poking her head up from the engine room. "Put it on screen" said Lars. A small brownish dot appeared on the screen; the planet which the zoo orbited. "Magnify" he continued. Rhodonite tapped a button, and a zoomed-in image came up, filling the entire screen. An imposing sight greeted them. Facet 31's fleet sat in orbit above the planet, though all of their ships were seemingly powered down, drifting in the planet's rings.

" _That's_ how they've been hiding from Homeworld!" exclaimed Pearl. "With the power off, their ships would be indistinguishable on sensors from the metallic asteroids in the rings. I wonder if they-"

Then they saw it. As they rounded the planet sufficiently to see around its edge, the zoo came into view. Or at least, what _had been_ the zoo. The familiar pink space station was now covered in large mechanical additions in various colours, connected together by massive snaking cables. Some were very clearly thrusters, which judging from their yellow and green metal, had to have been harvested from Facet 31's own ships. They were stuck onto the broad end of the station at various angles, randomly enough that they clearly weren't part of an organised drive system. Other parts, bolted on to the narrow end of station, were harder to pin down the purpose of. Either way, the augmentations made the zoo an imposing sight. The cables reaching from the modified sections into the body of the ship made it look as though it the additions had grown over it like great mechanical creepers. The jaws of everyone on the ship collectively dropped as they took in the ominous sight. After a prolonged silence, Dalton finally articulated what was one all of their minds:

"What they hell have they done to that place? And why?"


	37. Chapter 37

**Yellow Diamond arm ship, somewhere in space:**

Yellow sat, hunched forward in her chair, staring intently at the viewscreen. She and the rest of the fleet were lying in wait outside of the Human Zoo's star system at Steven's request. He hadn't wanted them to get any closer out of fear of alerting Facet 31 to their approach, so he and his ship had gone in alone. Yellow kept telling herself that should he call for help, her ships could be there to assist him in a matter of minutes, but somehow that didn't make the sitting around any easier. She hated waiting, especially when there was a potential threat sitting just a few billion miles away.

Absent-mindedly, she took another sip from the cup of coffee which she had stored in a small depression in the arm of her chair. Steven had introduced her to the liquid during the visit to Earth to cure the corrupted Gems, and, when she had taken a liking to it, had given her a large supply to take home (along with a cup that fit her size, which his Bismuth friend had thrown together). Since then she'd been pretty much living off the stuff. She understood that humans often used the substance to stave off the lengthy period of unconsciousness that they had to take part in on a daily basis. Of course, as a Gem she didn't tire like humans, and so had no need of this effect. Still, she did enjoy the buzz it gave.

She was relieved when she received a signal from the vessel Steven was using. For one, it meant he was still in one piece, and secondly, it meant that she might actually have something to do. Ordering one of her bridge officers to put the signal through, she rose from her chair as an image appeared on the main viewscreen. Steven had tapped the fleet into what his ship was seeing, and it was a bizarre sight indeed. The Human Zoo had been…modified in some way. About 40% of its surface was covered in clumsily bolted-on additions, which looked as though they were all derived from components of Gem ships. But why? What point was there in upgrading a floating zoo?

* * *

**Sun Incinerator, approaching Human Zoo:**

"Alright, it doesn't look like they've detected us yet. How're we gonna do this?" Lars asked, turning to Steven. Steven wasn't sure why everyone still seemed to turn to _him_ with these questions, but this time he did have an idea.

"Pearl, didn't you say that with the power off, Gem ships in the rings wouldn't show up on sensors?"

"Well, yes…" replied Pearl, "but I don't see how that helps us. We can't exactly fly in there with the power off."

"Maybe we can" said Lars, a grin forming on his face. "Rutile twins, do you think you two could pilot us through the rings on minimal power?"

The two Rutiles looked at each other for a moment, before nodding and turning back to the group. "We should be able to do it." "We can use the asteroids' gravity to direct us through the rings; only use thrusters when we have to."

"Good" said Steven, "because we're gonna have to get close enough to get on board that…thing." He wasn't sure whether to even call it the zoo anymore; he sincerely doubted that Facet 31 was planning to use it for conservation. Either way, he and the others would have to get on board. Whether he could get through to Rose Quartz or not, they still had to save the human hostages, and, ideally, retake the entire zoo. If worst did come to worst, and they ended up having to destroy the zoo, he and the others would just have to ferry the humans back to Earth, and hope they could adjust somehow. But the zoo's humans had spent generations there; it was their home more than Earth was, so Steven wanted to avoid having to relocate them if possible.

"Ok" said Rutile, "taking us in." "Switching to minimal power settings." The twins put the Sun Incinerator on an entry trajectory, and then shut down the vessel's generator. The main lights shut off, and the bridge was bathed in the dim brown light of the planet outside. The Rutiles piloted the small craft deftly, using the gravity of the various objects in the rings to turn the ship. Li held on to the wall firmly. Luckily 'minimal power settings' still allowed for the ship's artificial gravity to stay on, but it did feel a little lighter than it had. He wondered how long it was likely to take them to complete their navigation. If all the ship's systems were set to minimum, then that would include the life support, so he sincerely hoped that the pilots could complete their task before he and the other humans on the ship started running low on heat or air.

As the Incinerator drifted silently through the ring system, its occupants stared out at the sea of metallic rocks outside the viewing ports. Every once in a while they would pass a Facet 31 ship, powered down and floating statically in the rings. They were acutely aware that while the Incinerator was invisible to sensors for the moment, all it would take for them to be spotted is for the occupants of one of those other ships to look out of the window. Fortunately, it seemed unlikely that many of the ships were occupied at all. Many seemed to be missing armour plating, or even their thrusters. Clearly much of Facet 31's fleet had been scavenged to augment the zoo. Steven was once again unsettled by the thought of it. What could be so important that Facet 31 considered it worth crippling their own defensive capabilities over?

As the Incinerator came close to the zoo, the Rutiles bumped the ship into one of the asteroids as gently as they could, bringing it to a stop and knocking everyone off their feet. Once he had got back up, Steven stared out of the main viewscreen. The zoo loomed over them so closely now that it wasn't possible to see it all.

"Alright, that's as close as we're gonna get." Said Garnet authoritatively. "Everybody who's boarding get ready to head over."

As everyone busied themselves getting any equipment they'd need, Li took the opportunity to grab the necessary items from his briefcase, making sure that no-one's attention was on him. Connie meanwhile, fetched her sword from a large duffel bag, and Peridot snatched up her tablet and Velcroed it onto her arm. Dalton examined a rather scuffed pistol. It had accompanied him through many a dangerous situation before, and while he doubted it would be of any use against Gems, it felt better to be safe than sorry. He slipped it into his jacket and went to join the others.

Once everyone had their things, everyone except Lars and the Off Colours (who were staying behind provide a getaway if necessary) made their way to the Incinerator's exit hatch. Steven formed a bubble around himself, Connie, Dalton, and Li. "Ok Lars" he said into a rather childish-looking walky-talky, "now!" On his order, the rear hatch slid open, and the gang were blown out towards the zoo.

The trip over wasn't much more fun than the first time Steven had attempted it, during the battle with Facet 31's fleet, but it was the only way anyone could think of to get over. They couldn't exactly dock with the zoo right now; not without alerting Facet 31. They collided with the side of the zoo with a gentle thud, everyone grabbing on to any piece of metal they could in order to stop themselves. Garnet and Bismuth caught Steven's bubble to prevent it from bouncing off into space. They had positioned the Incinerator so that their trajectory would bring them close to an airlock, but they still had to crawl precariously along the side of the zoo for a short while to reach it. Once they had made it, Peridot crawled up to the airlock's outer panel.

"Peridot" asked Steven from inside his bubble "you got this?"

"Of course!" Peridot shot back confidently, as she plugged her tablet into the panel via what looked like a USB cable. "What sort of genius would I be if I couldn't hack some archaic Era-1 tech?" She tapped a few commands into her tablet and the airlock slid open. Peridot was almost blown away as it did; presumably she had forgotten to depressurise it first. Lapis caught her by the leg with her free hand, and pulled her back to the wall. Peridot gave a nervous laugh and looked sheepishly at the others. "Er… right this way!"

Once they group had packed themselves inside the airlock (very tightly, given how many of them there were), Peridot pressurized it, and Steven finally released his bubble. Connie, Dalton, and Li slumped to the floor, grateful that that particular part of the mission was over. As the airlock's inner door slid open, Pearl briefly poked her head out to scout the hallway, before giving the all-clear to the group.

They all knew what they had to do, and where they were going. Thanks to schematics provided by the Diamonds during the planning of the mission, they knew the layout of the zoo, though there was no guarantee that Facet 31's modifications hadn't altered it somewhat. Pearl was to lead 'team 1', consisting of herself and Amethyst, to rescue the human hostages. Dalton and Li would accompany her, as the UN had made matters concerning humans their priority. Garnet, meanwhile, was to lead 'team 2', consisting of herself, Lapis, and Peridot, to seize control of key areas of the zoo. Steven's 'team 3', naturally consisting of himself, Connie, and Bismuth, was to directly confront Rose Quartz, once they received the signal from team 1 to indicate that the hostages were out of harm's way.

The three teams split off in the corridor, gave each other a final, earnest nod, and headed off to their separate targets. As Steven ran through the pink metallic corridors; corridors he had seen through Rose's eyes not too long ago, he resolved that things would go differently this time. This time, he would get through to her. This time, nobody else was going to get hurt…


	38. Chapter 38

Rose Quartz stood in the tall, pink room. Beautifully ornamented spires ran from the floor up to a point so high that they faded into the darkness which obscured the ceiling. She liked coming here every once in a while, to remind herself of why she was fighting. This was the room in which she and her fellow Rose Quartzes had been bubbled for millennia, while Homeworld had just moved on without them; while Pink had lived out her life on Earth, forgetting that they had even existed. Before coming back to the zoo, Rose hadn't seen this room in thousands of years; she and her fellow Rose Quartzes having been brought back to homeworld before being unbubbled. The fact that Pink had left her once honoured royal guard to rot on the same station as her human pets disgusted Rose, but soon, they would pay back that indignity tenfold. She grinned to herself at the thought, only snapping to her senses when the door behind her slid open. Rose turned around, saw the Gem standing in the doorway, and smiled.

* * *

Pearl, Amethyst, Dalton, and Li made their way through the corridors of the Human Zoo as stealthily as possible. Pearl was able to move almost silently; her footfalls making sounds so quiet Dalton had to strain to hear them. Amethyst was…less stealthy. After she almost alerted two patrolling Rose Quartzes, she decided it would be better if she didn't walk, so she shapeshifted into an owl and flew silently alongside the others from then on. They weren't exactly sure where they were going. Pearl had studied the Diamonds' zoo schematics in enough detail that she knew how to get to the humans' enclosure, and Peridot's program could get them through the door, but there was no guarantee that the humans would actually still be there. Facet 31 weren't known for their fondness for organics, so it wasn't out of the question that the humans had been moved somewhere less hospitable, if they were even still alive. Still, the group didn't have any other leads to go on, so they proceeded towards the enclosure as planned.

The whole time Li was constantly eyeing up opportunities to break from the group. He knew he couldn't complete his objective while he was stuck tagging along with a couple of Crystal Gems. President Dalton would be even more troublesome; Li sincerely doubted that Dalton would approve of his true mission, which was probably why President Liu had kept the matter private. Li grew increasingly exasperated. If he was to ensure that Rose Quartz was stopped, he needed to be able to go about his business unsupervised. To that end, he peered down every corridor they passed, waiting for an opportunity to slip away unnoticed. It quickly became clear though that unless the situation changed, this would not be possible. Pearl was constantly looking around to check on him and Dalton. Not out of any suspicion of course; she likely just felt responsible for the safety of the more fragile members of her group, but it was irritating to Li all the same. Why couldn't the alien just mind her own business? Earth was the planet at risk; it should be humans deciding how to deal with the threat. He resolved that when he got home he'd have some choice recommendations to make to his superiors regarding relations with Homeworld.

* * *

Steven, Connie, and Bismuth stuck to the shadows, also trying to avoid detection. Bismuth wasn't exactly built for hiding, but the group had managed thus far. Bismuth's muscle and fighting experience would prove very useful, should Steven's attempt to reason with Rose Quartz go south. However, right now their top priority was to stay hidden until they got the all-clear from Pearl's team regarding the hostage situation. Alerting Rose to their presence too early could put the humans' lives in danger, and Steven wasn't prepared to lose anyone else. Witnessing Rose kill a human in her initial broadcast had been traumatic enough. He hadn't physically seen it of course, thanks to Garnet, but his mind had been all too happy to fill in the blanks. The image of the Gem who practically wore the face of his mother driving her sword through a defenceless person had burned itself into his mind. He couldn't stand the thought that any more people would come to harm because of what his mother had done to the Rose Quartzes. He had to save everyone.

* * *

Garnet, Lapis, and Peridot made a b-line for the zoo's most important areas: the main power core, the environmental systems, and the defence systems. They knew that once they had control of those areas, Facet 31 wouldn't be able to spring any nasty surprises on them, or endanger the humans by cutting the life support. Even more useful, the team would be able to shut off all power to the zoo if necessary; a prudent measure, given that they didn't know for what purpose the zoo had been modified. The three of them travelled together until they reached a point at which they had no choice but to split off to reach their separate objectives.

"Alright Gems, let's do this" said Garnet earnestly. "If anything goes wrong, you can get hold of me on your walkie-talkie."

"I… thought we were calling them communicators" replied Lapis, suspiciously eyeing the Cookie Cat-shaped object in her hand.

"Yeah, that does sound a lot more appropriate for a mission" agreed Peridot. "Honestly, where does Steven come up with these words? First "art", now this."

"Call them what you like" said Garnet, pushing down the Ruby part of her mind so as to avoid sounding exasperated. "Let's just get this done. We meet back here unless plans change."

Lapis and Peridot gave her a nod, and the three Gems went their separate ways.

After a short period of searching; her pace having been impeded slightly due to having to avoid the guards, Garnet found herself just outside the zoo's main power room. As she was about to cross the threshold into the room, she "saw" a flash of movement in her future vision. Twirling around, she deftly sidestepped a blast of energy, which narrowly missed her head. As her eyes flitted to the beam's source, she saw her attackers: a large group of Quartzes, consisting both of Facet 31's Rose Quartzes, and the zoo's Amethysts. Some of them were wielding limb enhancers on one arm, in blaster configuration. Garnet didn't know why the zoo's Amethysts would be working with Facet 31, but right now she had more pressing matters to worry about.

The group of Quartzes charged at her, and she dashed to meet them. As she spun and ducked away from their attacks, she put her communicator on an open channel, and spoke to any of her allies who would hear her:

"This is Garnet. I'm pinned down. Tell me what's going on at your end."

After a few tense seconds, during which she struggled to keep the group of attackers at bay, she got her answer. The sounds of more scuffles played through her communicator, occasionally punctuated by discernible words. Eventually, Pearl's voice cut through the assault of noises:

"Garnet! We're pinned down here too! We don't know how they found us; we didn't think we'd alerted anyone!"

"Same here" said Steven, his voice also emanating from the communicator. "We didn't even hear them coming; they were just on top of us!"

It was the same story for all of them. In the environmental control room, Lapis clenched her water-fists imposingly as she stared down the group of Quartzes who were cutting off her escape. They had appeared so quickly; far more quickly than Quartzes should have been able to sneak up on her. She pushed her confusion to the back of her mind. Explanations could wait. Right now, she just had to survive. Near the main weapons room, Peridot was in a similar situation. She used her metal powers to fling any loose pieces of plating or machinery she could find at her would-be attackers. This seemed to be working for the time being, but she knew she couldn't keep them pinned down forever. "How could I have been so stupid?" she thought to herself. "How could I let a bunch of Gems sneak up on me, Quartzes no less?! Urgh, if only I weren't cornered in this weapon room I could-… wait… I'm in the weapons room." A cheeky grin spread across her face.

In a chamber near the bridge, Bismuth, Connie, and Steven fought a fierce battle against a large group of Quartzes. Bismuth had morphed both of her hands into huge hammers, and was chewing through the enemies quickly enough to give the group room to breathe, but not quickly enough to actually cut them a path out of their cornered position. Steven was projecting as large a shield as he could in the opposite direction to keep the Quartzes from flanking her. Connie meanwhile was taking on an individual Rose Quartz, who seemed to match her in ability. They were entirely boxed in.

"How did they find us?" asked Connie, never taking her eyes off the Quartz she was fighting.

"I don't know" replied Steven. "Quartzes aren't exactly supposed to be stealthy!"

"Well, neither are Bismuths, but I snuck in here just fine; maybe Rose taught them a few tricks" Bismuth piped up as she sent a couple of Quartzes flying with a swing of her arm.

"No, it's something more than that; something I'm missing" said Garnet, still listening in from her own position. "Rose is good, but she didn't predict our plans like this last time, or she would have caught Ruby back when we eavesdropped on their meeting place. How is she one-upping us now?"

"How do you think, fusion?" spoke a voice from behind Garnet. She whipped around at the sound of it, as did many of the Quartzes, though while Garnet's reaction was out of shock, theirs was out of deference. The voice was one Garnet found chillingly familiar. It was like hearing a part of herself speaking, but in a tone that was nothing like she was used to. For a moment, Garnet reflected that this must have been how Steven had felt when he'd faced down Rose. The voice's owner stepped out of a door just a few metres down the corridor. Her black and grey dress bore the Facet 31 logo, and a large gem gleamed in the position her eye should have occupied, but everything else about her was unmistakably familiar, from her short stature, to her thin dainty limbs, to her soothing, almost lyrical voice. A Sapphire.

"No, really" the Sapphire continued, walking slowly towards Garnet, "how do you even _think_? With that Ruby's unorderly thoughts tumbling around in there it's a wonder your Sapphire can even function." Garnet clenched her teeth angrily at the insult, but she could tell this was no casual jab. The Sapphire had been smirking when she delivered the comment, but that smile had faded almost immediately into an expression of pure contempt.

"I don't understand" Garnet replied, a mild tone of panic creeping into her voice, "A Sapphire shouldn't have been able to see us coming." It was true, the Crystal Gems had never had to worry about Homeworld's Sapphires during the war, or during their time with Steven, because Sapphires were only adept at predicting futures that seemed likely. The rebels' behaviour and tactics were so unpredictable to Homeworld Gems that Sapphires had been functionally useless against them. If a Sapphire had seen through their plan now, then that meant… Facet 31 had considered this future a likely one. Rose had _expected_ them to come. She'd been waiting for them.

Seeing the look for realisation appear on Garnet's face, the Sapphire spoke again. "Finally catching up are we, fusion? Rose knew you'd come sooner or later, she only needed _me_ to tell her where and when. And now that we have you, I'm going to enjoy watching you discover what it's like to feel blind…"


	39. Chapter 39

Pearl danced away from swing after swing of the massive weapons her Quartz attackers were flailing at her. On the other side of the tussle, Amethyst did the same, weaving between the much larger Quartzes with ease. While they were holding off their adversaries for the time being, both knew that this couldn't go on forever. Sooner or later the sheer numbers of their foes would tire them out. To make matters worse, the fact that these Quartzes were even here meant that Facet 31 had detected them somehow. Garnet had contacted the two just after the Quartzes appeared, but had gone radio silent soon after, so Pearl and Amethyst were none the wiser as to how they had been found out. However it had happened, they knew they needed to reach the human hostages quickly. If the Crystal Gems' cover had been blown, the humans' lives could already be in jeopardy, and the Quartz attackers could easily just be stalling for time until Facet 31 could carry out whatever it was that they were planning on doing with the zoo.

Pearl surveyed the ongoing battle. Amethyst was holding her own, and so far the Quartzes' attention was either on her, or Pearl. The instant the Quartzes had first showed up, Pearl had shoved her human allies, Dalton and Li, through the nearest doorway. Though the Quartzes had caught the group by surprise, and thus must have seen all four of them, a quick head count of the enemy by Pearl revealed that seemingly none of them had chosen to pursue the humans. Pearl and Amethyst had been keeping the pressure on hard enough that the enemy hadn't been able to spare any soldiers to do so. Pearl hoped to herself that the two humans were smart enough to lay low and stay out of trouble until she and Amethyst could fight their way out of this. _If_ they could fight their way out of this.

As Pearl parried another blow, an idea came to her. However, it wasn't one that would work in the pink metallic corridor in which she and Amethyst were currently fighting. "Amethyst!" she yelled over the sounds of grunting and clashing metal "come to me!"

Amethyst gave her a nod, and quickly rolled herself into a flaming pinwheel, screeching between the Quartzes until she was back to back with Pearl.

"So… what now P?" said Amethyst nervously, as Quartzes advanced on the pair from all sides.

"We need to get into the human enclosure" replied Pearl, also glancing at the advancing guards.

"Uh, yeah, I know, but we can't exactly get to the entrance right now" Amethyst said incredulously.

"Actually, I was hoping you could help me out with that" said Pearl, subtly gesturing with her head towards a point on the ceiling. Amethyst's eyes darted up to it, and fell on a support beam that looked as though it had been installed as part of Facet 31's extensive modifications to the zoo.

"Ooooooh, I feel ya" said Amethyst, realising what Pearl had in mind. Swinging her whip, she forced a couple of the Quartzes to duck out of the way. Swinging again, higher this time, she managed to coil the end of her whip around the beam.

"Ha-ha, nice shot" mocked a Rose Quartz.

"Actually" replied Amethyst with a smirk, "it kinda was." Grabbing Pearl's waist with one arm, she tugged hard on the whip with the other, and pushed off with her feet. She flung the two of them into the air, letting go of the whip's handle as she did so. Once they were a couple of feet in the air, Amethyst grabbed a point higher up on the whip. Its sharp crystalline protrusions dug into her hand, but it would take more than that to dissuade her. The force of her jump sent the two Crystal Gems swinging above the head of the Quartzes. Letting go at the apex of the swing, the two landed a few metres beyond their attackers, and immediately bolted for the human enclosure, with the Quartzes in hot pursuit.

Finding the entrance pipe, Pearl and Amethyst dashed towards their destination as fast as the enclosed space would allow. Being Gems, the station's automatic processing systems didn't try to chip them or don them in outfits as it had done for Steven on their first visit, but progress was still slow. Fortunately, it was slower for the Quartzes, who were large enough that they were forced to crawl to follow the pair. Reaching the enclosure, Pearl and Amethyst burst out of the lake in the habitat's centre, and clambered to shore. Pearl's eyes scanned the enclosure around her. The place was well lit, a pleasant temperature, and was lush with vegetation. It was downright idyllic, but it was also empty. There wasn't a single human in sight. "I was worried this might happen" Pearl said, turning to Amethyst, "Facet 31 must have already moved the humans, or worse."

As the two Crystal Gems stood side by side in the empty enclosure, the Quartzes closed in on them again. Some were walking ominously out of the lake, while others were coming from different directions, clearly having flanked around to the enclosure's other entrances rather than pursuing their targets through the tunnel.

"Heh, nice try" said one of the Rose Quartzes with a smirk, "but now you're cornered. You were never going to get away from us."

Pearl's mind was still racing with thoughts of where the humans might have been taken, and what she should do next, but she knew that right now, she needed to focus on the problem that was right in front of her. "We didn't _need_ to get away" she said, her expression shifting to a confident grin. She and Amethyst side-eyed each other, both knowing that the other was thinking the same thing. Pearl turned back to the Quartz. "We just needed to get you somewhere with a higher ceiling." Before any of the Quartzes could figure out what was going on, Pearl gave a showy twirl, before dropping into Amethyst's arms. A bright flash of light filled the enclosure, as the Quartzes shielded their eyes. When they were able to look back at where their targets had been, Opal stood in their place.

As the more than ten-foot-tall fusion stared them down, the Quartzes looked nervously at each other, before one of the Rose Quartzes spoke up, exasperated: "Stop standing around you rocks! We can do that too!" The slower thinkers among them looked slightly surprised, before one of the Amethysts replied "Oh. Oh yeah!" More flashes of light filled the room. Once they died down, Opal was surrounded by four Quartz fusions; two Rose Quartzes, two Amethysts; each one about equal in size to Opal herself.

Opal glanced from enemy to enemy as the enlarged Quartzes plodded towards her. A smile spread across her face. "Let's dance."

Pushing off with both legs, she jumped high into the air, and over the head of one of the fusions. Summoning her spear and whip, she twirled in the air, combining them into her bow with a quick motion of her arms. As she twisted to face the fusion she had just jumped over, she drew back her bow. Time seemed to slow as she hung in the air, an orb of light and wind forming around her. Her knee-length hair billowed behind her as a glowing blue arrow formed within her bow. Still in mid-air, she released the shot. The arrow glowed with almost blinding brightness as it soared towards an Amethyst fusion. It struck squarely in the chest, before exploding in a pulse of light. The fusion was poofed instantly, and four Amethyst gemstones dropped from the resulting cloud of violet smoke, landing with thuds in the soft grass.

Opal landed gracefully about twenty metres away, and turned to face her remaining enemies. Clenching their teeth angrily, they charged at her, their weapons raised.

* * *

Dalton and Li stood pressed against the walls on either side of a metallic sliding door. Just a few minutes previously, they had been trudging along with two of the Crystal Gems, with the intention of reaching the enclosure which they believed may have contained Facet 31's human hostages. Things hadn't gone to plan, however. They had been spotted somehow, and in the ensuing chaos one of their Gem escorts, Pearl, had shoved them through this door and shut it behind them. The pair of humans had stood on either side of the door as they listened to the fight raging on the other side. Now, though, it seemed as though the combatants had moved off. Just moments ago, the humans had heard the thunderous footsteps as the bulky Gems had run off down the corridor, presumably in pursuit of Pearl and Amethyst. Now, Dalton and Li were alone, and left with the daunting prospect of figuring out what to do next.

"Well, now what?" asked Dalton, talking as much to himself as he was to Li.

"I say we change objective" replied Li. "Those Gems sounded like they were heading towards the human enclosure. We'll never get there now."

"And what's you alternative?" said Dalton incredulously, "that we go after the first facet 31 agents we see? This was the only part of the op that had any chance of being non-combat. Neither of us stands a chance against a Gem in a fight."

Li bristled at Dalton's rebuke. He knew that the American's was only trying to keep them both alive, but frankly he was just getting in the way. Li had all the tools he needed to carry out his mission; he just needed to get away from Dalton long enough to do so without tipping him off. "Well" he said, losing his patience somewhat "I would much rather take my chances than sit uselessly in this room until Facet 31 decides to send soldiers after us, so you can either come with me or not, Mr President."

"Then I guess we're going together" said Dalton in a show of bravado. "Splitting up right now would just be asking to get killed."

It took all of Li's willpower not to scowl. He had a job to do, and this naïve politician was making said job very difficult, and was proving near-impossible to shake. Still seething internally, he headed back to the door, and activated the panel beside it. Pearl had locked it behind them, presumably to protect them from the Quartzes, but fortunately, thanks to the program developed by the small green Crystal Gem; Peridot, he believed; overcoming the lock was a trivial process. As the door slid open, Li peered left and right down the corridor, and, once satisfied that there were no Gems nearby, quietly stepped out into the hallway. Dalton followed behind; eyeing Li suspiciously when he was sure he wasn't looking.

Try as he might, Dalton just couldn't get the measure of the man. Li had been assigned to this mission as an observer, predominantly because the international community no longer trusted Dalton's own judgement. But what did that mean? What had Li been asked to do that the UN didn't feel Dalton would be willing to do himself? The thought weighed so heavily on Dalton's mind that for a few minutes he paid little attention to where Li was actually going. He simply followed him as he wound his way through the metallic pink corridors of the zoo. It was only when the pair stopped to wait for a couple of Amethyst guards to move off that Dalton stole a look at the map Li was carrying. The Diamonds had provided the entire team with copies of the zoo's floor plan, stored on Gem tablets that allowed them to track their own positions. A quick glance at the two dots representing Li and Dalton revealed that they were now in the vicinity of something called the "main power distribution node." Dalton narrowed his eyes. Why would Li have led them here? Their job was to look out for human interests, and, in the case of this mission, that meant rescuing the hostages. How did messing with the zoo's power supply help humanity?

"Mr President" said Li, speaking in a hushed whisper, "can you move up to that next corner and make sure those guards are out of earshot?"

"Sure thing" Dalton replied, though he doubted that Li didn't already know the answer. Neither of them had scouted ahead at any of the other corners they'd come to. It seemed likely that Li just wanted out of the way for some reason. Lifting his own tablet in front of his face, Dalton watched Li in the reflective screen, and sure enough, as soon as Dalton reached the next corner, Li bolted into the room to his immediate right, and shut the door behind him. Dalton spun around, and sprinted to the door. He found it locked, but quickly circumvented the issue using Peridot's program, just as Li had done before.

As he swung the door open, he found Li stood next to a colossal bundle of cables and wires which formed an ugly ball in the centre of the room. The bundle's cables protruded in six directions, vanishing into the floor, ceiling, and each wall. Some cables were as thick as a man's torso, while others were as thin as a pencil, but each throbbed with a warm pink glow. This must have been the node mentioned on the map. As Li approached it, he reached into his suit jacket, and pulled out a device; one which Dalton recognised all too well.

"Mr Li" Dalton said with a steely tone "why do you have a Diamond Line communicator?" Dalton knew that The Diamonds had given those communicators only to the world leaders present at the Beach City conference, so what the hell was one doing here?

"Ah, Mr President" replied Li, trying his hardest to mask his surprise that Dalton was already back from his scouting assignment "President Liu gave it to me before we set off. I thought I should contact the Diamonds and inform them of the fact that our Crystal Gem friends were detected by Facet 31. I imagine they would want to know."

"Mhmm" Dalton said with a raised eyebrow, "and I suppose you had to be in this specific room to send that message? We could have done that from where we were, but instead we spent valuable time coming here, so why don't you tell me what's really going on?"

Silence passed between the two men for a few seconds, as they eyed each other up. In an instant, each one noticed a change in the other's eyes. In unison, they pulled their pistols on each other. Dalton had reacted almost entirely on impulse. He had been in enough combat situations to recognise the look in a man's eyes that preceded the drawing of a weapon, and his old training had kicked in. Now that he and Li stood with their weapons raised though, he couldn't quite believe it was happening. Eager to get some sort of answer, he spoke up: "Look, I don't know what's going on here, but I figure if what you're planning to do is so important, you can't afford this delay as much as I can. Heck, I can stand here all day if I have to." Of course, doing so would mean that both he and Li would likely be captured by the first Gem to walk through the door, but Dalton considered that option preferable to the currently unknown quantity that was Li's elicit plan.

Li sighed, keeping his weapon trained on Dalton. He sensed that he wasn't going to be able to fight his way out of this. After all, even if he did manage to get a shot in, he risked getting hit himself, and if he did, there would be little chance of his completing his mission. What would become of humanity then? Resigning himself to the situation, he conceded that there was no choice. He was going to have to bring Dalton in.

"Alright" he said, holding up the communicator for Dalton to see, "here's what I was sent to do…"


	40. Chapter 40

Li and Dalton kept their weapons trained on each other, each never letting their gaze shift from the one stood opposite. In his free hand, Li held his Diamond line communicator aloft. The small, octahedral device didn't look all that menacing, but he knew how dangerous it could truly be. "Did you know" he began, his eyes fixed on Dalton, "that these communicators have a failsafe installed?"

"What kind of failsafe?" asked Dalton in an icy tone.

"A self-destruct function" replied Li, gaining a small measure of satisfaction from the look of surprise on Dalton's face. "Usually, it could only be activated remotely by the Diamonds themselves, but my country's government put extensive work into hacking the device following the Beach City Conference. Now, I can activate it myself; even put it on a timer if I have to."

Dalton was in shock. A bomb?! What did Li even hope to achieve with one tiny explosive against a small army of Gems? Finally finding the words to say, he spoke up: "Why? What's the point? You're not going to be able to do much to Facet 31 with that, and I fail to see how it helps the hostages at all."

"This isn't just about the hostages" Li replied coldly, "it's about all of humanity." Seeing Dalton's confusion, he continued: _"If I detonate this device on the zoo's main power distribution node…"_ he said, gesturing to the throbbing bundle of cables behind him, "the blast will be carried through the entire zoo, destroying the whole thing. Consider it a contingency plan. Our Crystal Gem allies are naïve enough to still believe that they can solve this with diplomacy. The 'Universe' child wants to _talk_ to an alien terrorist! He _will_ fail, and when he does, we need a back-up plan to put an end to Facet 31. This is it."

Dalton was speechless. Li intended to blow up the zoo?! And the UN had sanctioned this?! He had expected that the observer might be duplicitous, but he hadn't foreseen that he would attempt an actual act of war. Facet 31 had thrown the first stones, yes, but Dalton had thought his fellow world leaders smart enough to realise that a straight-up conflict with them was doomed to failure.

"You can't be serious" he at last replied. "This was supposed to be a rescue mission. And besides; your only role is to assess the Crystal Gems' performance and report back to the UN. Are you seriously expecting me to believe that they sanctioned an attack that could make our relations with the Gems even worse?!"

"Make them worse?!" Li shot back, finally letting the extent of his irritation slip through his usually stony mask. "These aliens already mean to destroy us; relations can't _get_ any worse!"

" _Some_ Gems!" Dalton corrected him. "Most of them are on _our_ side, trying to stop this mess. But you received the same reports from Homeworld that I did; Facet 31 has a lot of potential support there. If you go and blow up a Gem installation, you risk radicalising more of Homeworld's population. If a single Russian agent was enough to allow Facet 31 to amass a small army, imagine the strength their message will have after it gets out that Humans killed a whole _station_ full of Gems!"

Li was now almost foaming at the mouth in rage. How could this American fool not see the necessity of this plan? "They won't get the chance to recruit any more soldiers" he said, trying to stay coherent enough to argue his point, "because we'll take out their entire leadership here. If Rose Quartz dies, Facet 31 dies with her!"

"I don't believe that, and neither should you" replied Dalton. He could see that Li was not going to be swayed by moral arguments regarding the killing of hundreds of Gems, or even the human hostages, so he focused instead on arguing in terms of practicality. "When in our history has that _ever_ worked? Facet 31 didn't just spring up from nowhere you know; they rose out of a climate of collective fear and anger."

Dalton spoke from experience. Over the course of his time in the military, and subsequently in politics, he had developed an intimate knowledge of how violence tended to spread in troubled regions. While Facet 31's members were aliens, their behaviour was all too familiarly human. "Rose Quartz was able to recruit as many people as she did because there was a planet-wide sense of fear towards Earth. Their planet is changing in ways they can't predict, and Earth made the perfect target for their animosity, once Rose Quartz stoked them up a little. Even if you somehow wiped out all of Facet 31 today, billions of their sympathisers would still exist, and might be driven to move against us if we prove her right. Facet 31 isn't a collection of Gems; it's an idea, and you can't kill an idea with a bomb!"

"What's your alternative?!" Li snapped back. "Ask nicely? Give her a shoulder to cry on? Universe already tried that once, and he failed. We never should have left Earth's fate in the hands of that child!"

"That 'child' reformed Homeworld's entire civilisation" replied Dalton, fuming at Li's condescension.

"So we've been told" replied Li sceptically. "You don't honestly believe that do you? We have only the Diamonds' word to go on that any of what we were told is true. Do you really believe that the rulers of an intergalactic empire just suddenly decided to play nice? That they're willing to befriend us even though there's nothing they need from us? They're playing you, Dalton. The sooner we make it clear that we won't be pushed around, the better."

Dalton sighed. He didn't make a habit of considering anyone a lost cause, but Li was seriously making him reconsider that stance. "I'm not about to let you escalate this any further" he said, tightening his grip on his pistol.

"And _I'm_ not about to let you throw humanity under the bus out of some sort of naïve idealism!" Li spat back, gripping his own weapon more tightly in response. Dalton knew that if he took the shot, Li would almost certainly do the same; but he also knew that, unlike Li, he could afford that outcome. Li needed to actually prime his explosive for his plan to work, whereas all Dalton had to do was stop him. If that meant dying here then, well, he could think of worse ways to go out. If it gave Steven the time he needed to avert a war, and saved uncountable lives on two worlds in the process, then it was worth it. His only regret was that he wouldn't be seeing Amanda again. Trying to push the thought of her face from his mind, he put his finger on the trigger.

* * *

In the weapons room, a group of Quartz soldiers ducked behind any pieces of cover they could find, trying desperately to protect themselves from the volley of energy blasts their target was sending their way. Peridot, upon realising that being cornered in a room full of weapons wasn't quite as much of a disadvantage as she had first though, had put said weapons to good use. Pushing her metals powers to their limit, she wielded a dozen blasters at once, ranging from limb enhancer arms to large cannons usually reserved for Gems twice her size. As she slowly advanced towards the room's exit, she made sure to change the direction of her fire regularly, so as to keep all her assailants pinned down. "Ha!" she shouted confidently, "say hello to my little friends!" It was a line from an Earth movie, so she knew that the reference would be lost on the Quartzes, but it amused her, and that was enough.

Once she got close enough to the door, she dropped all but a couple of the weapons, and dove out of the exit, sealing the door behind her. She quickly interfaced her tablet with the door controls, and a couple of quick commands later, the door was locked. Quartzes weren't known for their technical expertise, but she knew that even they wouldn't be contained forever, so she set about trying to find her team. Having had to prioritise her own escape, she hadn't been able to take the zoo's weapons offline, so the best she could hope to do would be to meet up with Lapis or Garnet, and help them with their objectives. She hadn't been able to raise either of them over the communicators, so she simply ran through the corridors, using the Diamonds' map of the zoo to find her way to where Lapis was meant to be, assuming the Quartzes hadn't forced her to move off.

Peering down at her screen as she went, she ran head first into someone's torso. Yelping, she jumped back and raised her weapons instinctively, only to see the familiar face of Lapis staring down at her. "Um…hi Peridot" said Lapis, looking slightly confused. "I thought you were going to-"

"The weapons room? Yes" said Peridot, cutting her off. "I _might_ have encountered a small obstacle there, and been forced to make a…tactical retreat. Anyway, what are you doing here? Did the Quartzes stop you getting to the environmental systems?"

"What? Oh. No, I poofed them" Lapis relied nonchalantly, opening the palm of one of her water hands to reveal a pile of Quartz gems. "And I put that code you gave me into the computer. These guys we're fighting won't be able to switch off the life support now." Peridot stared bug-eyed at the pile of gems for a moment, then up to Lapis, then back to the pile again. She really did like Lapis, but Peridot had to admit that her sheer power was scary sometimes.

"O….K…." Peridot said meekly. "That's great. We should probably try to meet up with the others then. None of them are answering my calls, so they may be struggling with the Quartzes. As usual, it's up to us to save the day." Peridot thought back proudly for a moment to the time she, Lapis, and Bismuth had piloted Blue and Yellow Diamond's hand ships to Homeworld to rescue Steven and the others. She smiled. _"Where would they be without us?"_ she thought to herself.

She was snapped out of her reflection when Lapis grabbed her hand. "Hop on" said the blue Gem, giving Peridot a warm smile; something she reserved for only her and Steven. Setting the Quartzes down, Lapis shifted her second set of arms back into their usual, wing-like form. Lifting her arm, she tossed Peridot up onto her back with surprising strength that one wouldn't have expected from looking at her almost scrawny limbs. Peridot steadied herself just in time, as Lapis flew the two of them through the corridors at high speed.

"Where to?" asked Lapis as Peridot held on for dear life.

"I suppose we should probably try to meet up with Garnet. She's the closest, so we-gah!" Peridot was cut off mid-sentence and Lapis can to an abrupt stop. She set Peridot down, then immediately pulled her round a nearby corner. _"Hey, what was that abou-"_ Lapis put her hand over Peridot's mouth before the latter could keep talking. With her free hand, she gestured around the corner. Peridot pulled Lapis' hand away, and peered out carefully. Around the corner were two Amethyst guards, carrying a tray of some sort of strange objects, which bore a passing resemblance to Earth foodstuffs. Approaching a door not far from Lapis and Peridot, they slid the tray through a slot, before turning and trudging away.

Once the guards' footsteps had faded into complete silence, Lapis and Peridot rounded the corner and stood out in the main corridor again. "What were those guards doing?" Peridot asked, as much to herself as anyone else. Walking around carrying things was fairly typical behaviour for a Quartz, but usually they were given heavier objects. No-one would waste a Quartz carrying something that a Ruby could lift with one hand.

"I'm not sure" replied Lapis, evidently missing the rhetorical nature of Peridot's question. "Maybe this is some sort of storage room, or-" Lapis stopped talking as she reached the door. Turning to face her, Peridot saw that Lapis was staring through a window in the door at about the latter's head height. Her expression was a mixture of surprise and apprehension. Lapis turned to her, and spoke in a concerned tone: "Peridot, there are humans in here."

Peridot scampered over to her. "What?! Let me see!" Lapis shifted her wings back into extra arms, and lifted Peridot up to the window. What Peridot saw inside the room was simultaneously reassuring and unsettling. All the humans within were alive, and, if her head count was correct, matched the number on the manifest the Diamonds had given her. However, the conditions they were being kept in were less than humane. They had been relocated from the zoo's spacious habitat, to a room barely large enough to hold them all. It was dark and cramped, and the humans were clearly in low spirits. They were huddled at the far end of the room, shrinking away from her gaze. Evidently their confinement had made them wary of Gems. Once Lapis put Peridot back down, the smaller gem looked up at her. "Lapis, we've got to get them out of there and off this station."

"How?" Lapis replied. "I don't think they're going to follow us. Pearl's team was in charge of the hostage stuff because they had those two guys in suits to help win these humans over. How are we going to convince these guys that we aren't with Facet 31?"

Peridot had to admit that Lapis had a point. Winning people over wasn't exactly either of their strong suits. She spoke a couple more times into her communicator, trying to get hold of anyone in the other groups, and much like in her previous attempts received no answer. Whatever was going on in the other areas of the ship, it was obvious that help wasn't coming. If they wanted to evacuate the humans, they were going to have to do it themselves…


	41. Chapter 41

Sapphire watched on with a wide grin as her Quartz soldiers advanced on the fusion that called itself 'Garnet'; the fusion that brought shame on all Sapphires with its very existence. She couldn't fathom what madness must have compelled a Sapphire to handicap herself by sharing minds with a Ruby of all things, but she was eager to watch their little experiment fail. If Facet 31 was going to rebuild Homeworld's society as it had been in the old days; a society in which Sapphires were respected aristocratic Gems, then this fusion would have to be the first aspect of the Diamonds' new status quo to disappear.

As Garnet fought to keep her Quartz attackers at bay, she barely took her eyes off the Sapphire. "Struggle all you want" the small blue Gem snarled. "An abomination like you doesn't stand a chance against this many soldiers. Rose saw your plan coming a mile away, and I'll gladly help her put an end to you! _"_

It was then that something changed inside Garnet. Up until that point, she'd been focused solely on survival; on keeping her opponents at bay long enough for Steven to fix things, but now, she had a new goal. Every fibre of her being was telling her to prove that Sapphire wrong. Not out of a desire to say "I told you so" or anything so petty; she simply wanted to prove to this doubter what fusion was truly capable of. Fusion had defined Garnet's existence; she owed almost everything about who she was to it. If she could open another Gem's eyes to its worth, then she saw that as her task; her duty. So she decided: she was going to beat every last one of the Quartzes that were advancing on her, and prove that together, Ruby and Sapphire were stronger than any one Gem could be alone.

That, of course, was easier said than done. She thought back to her fight with Jasper aboard the hand ship; a moment that now seemed like eons ago. Back then, she had had a hard time fighting _one_ Quartz. Now, she had to take on almost a dozen. Granted, it was unlikely that any were as strong as Jasper, but it would be a challenge all the same. A tiny bead of sweat formed on her forehead at the thought, but just as quickly as her apprehension had arrived, it faded. A second voice inside her head pushed that thought away, saying without words _"It's going to be alright."_ Being a fusion was funny like that. You weren't two people; you weren't one person. Garnet didn't hear Ruby and Sapphire separately in her head; after all, she was them, and they were her. Still, it always felt like she had company somehow, even when she knew she was alone. That feeling was enough to keep her fear at bay in almost any situation. As the Quartzes advanced on her, she smiled, and lifted her gauntlets. "Let's do this."

She danced between their attacks with such grace that they failed to land a single hit on her. At roughly six foot-five, Garnet was not a small Gem by any measure. The Quartzes, though larger still, were clearly caught off guard by how fast she could move. She wrestled a gem destabilizer from the hand of one of the Rose Quartzes, and turned it on her enemies. She found the use of destabilisers…distasteful. She remembered all too well the two times she had been destabilised; once by Jasper, and once by Yellow Diamond. Neither time had been a pleasant experience, but right now, poofing these Quartzes seemed like the fastest and most merciful way out of this scenario, and it seemed less violent this way than using her gauntlets.

Dodging a punch from the disarmed Quartz, Garnet thrust the destabiliser into its abdomen. Yellow geometric lines spread across the body of the Quartz for a moment, as its body vibrated in shock. Seconds later, there was a puff of smoke, and the Quartz's gem clattered to the floor. Incensed, the other Quartzes charged at her with alarming speed. Garnet leapt upwards, allowing them all to collide with each other. Twisting upside-down in the air, she allowed her feet to make contact with the ceiling. She pushed off, and went flying downwards like a meteor, striking the floor with her gauntleted free hand. The shockwave sent the Quartzes flying into the corridor's walls, many of them sprawling on the floor as they fell free of the resulting dents.

Sapphire watched on in shock. How was this happening? Gems of different types weren't even _meant_ to fuse. They were a hindrance to each other. How could this 'Garnet' actually be winning? The remaining few Quartzes who were still able to fight charged at Garnet again, but she seemed unfazed; confident in fact. Ducking a sword swing, she hit another Rose Quartz with an uppercut that sent the huge Gem soldier smashing into the ceiling, poofing them on impact. Twirling around, Garnet threw the destabiliser into the torso of an Amethyst guard, poofing them also. As she turned to the last remaining Quartz, it scowled at her, turned, and ran in the opposite direction.

"Where are you going!" yelled Sapphire hysterically.

"To get reinforcements!" replied the Quartz, irritated having to explain herself.

"Irrelevant! Get back here and finish her!" Sapphire continued to shout as the Quartz disappeared down the corridor.

"What was it you said before?" said Garnet, walking slowly towards Sapphire, "that I didn't stand a chance?"

Sapphire yelped and turned around. At the sight on Garnet approaching her, she began backing away.

"Woah" said Garnet, throwing up her hands. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I just want to talk"

"Why should I believe that?!" Sapphire shot back, continuing to back up. "You weren't exactly in a 'talky' mood when you poofed my Quartzes!"

"That was self-defence" Garnet replied coolly. "But I don't need to worry about _you_ hurting me, do I?"

Sapphire knew the Garnet was right. The moment she took any action against the fusion, her future vision would fail, leaving her blind. Such was the curse of the gem placement she had emerged with. Obviously the fusion had sensed this too, which is why it was now being so infuriatingly calm around her.

"Don't patronise me!" Sapphire yelled. "I know what you Crystal Gems do to anyone who threatens your precious little Earth!"

"The war was a long time ago" said Garnet, still keeping her voice level. "Nowadays, we try to talk to the Gems we disagree with; try to find a better way to settle our arguments." She wasn't sure why she felt so compelled to get to the root of this Sapphire's problem non-violently, when she had so casually dispatched all the other Facet 31 Gems she had faced. Garnet hoped that it was out of genuine sympathy for the small blue Gem's feelings, and not simply because she bore such a striking resemblance to Garnet's own wife. No, wait; Ruby's wife. Garnet sometimes had trouble separating Ruby and Sapphire's feeling from her own. She wasn't sure if she even should.

Sapphire spoke up, forcing Garnet to shake off the thought. "OK, let's assume I believe you're not going to hurt me; what could a fusion like you even have to say to me that would be worth hearing?" The venom in Sapphire's voice was clear. The way she emphasized the word 'fusion' was evidence enough for Garnet to make a good guess of how Sapphire had fallen in with Facet 31. It was no secret that Garnet's fusion, and subsequent joining of the rebellion, had resulted in some damage to the reputation of Sapphires back on Homeworld. It had been utterly irrational; the condemnation of an entire Gem type for the "crimes" of one, but that was just how Homeworld operated back then. It was understandable that a Homeworld Sapphire might resent her, maybe even enough to try to fight her, but something still didn't add up.

"I'm just trying to figure out why a Sapphire like you would even join a group like Facet 31. Their whole ideology doesn't make any sense."

"Ha! You're one to talk, Crystal Gem!" Scoffed Sapphire. "At least _our_ rebellion didn't turn against our people for the sake of one planet of fleshy animals. _Our_ Rose Quartz isn't a fake like yours."

Garnet bit back the urge to respond to Sapphire's goading, and instead continued her original line of discussion. "Just hear me out: Facet 31 always told you that Fusions like me were a mistake; that a Ruby could only hold a Sapphire back, but look at what I just did. Could a Sapphire have beaten all those Quartzes? Could a Sapphire have been unpredictable enough to defy your future vision?"

Sapphire had to admit that Garnet had a point. Seeing the fusion fight had been stunning. She had heard tales of Garnet's fighting prowess during the war, but seeing it for herself was another experience entirely. How could a fusion that wasn't supposed to exist be better at fighting than a pure Ruby fusion? How could it defy the predictions of a pure Sapphire? Over her entire life on Homeworld, Sapphire had been told that cross-Gem fusions were abominations born from defective Gems, and Rose had told her the same thing when she joined Facet 31. Had Rose… actually been wrong about something? That couldn't be true, could it?

Sensing that Sapphire was at least giving thought to her words now, Garnet continued: "Facet 31 exists to return Homeworld to the old ways, right? From before the Diamonds made peace with the Crystal Gems?"

"That's right" replied Sapphire.

"Well" continued Garnet, "is that really what any of you should want? Do you honestly think any of you would have a place on the old Homeworld any more, after everything you've been through?"

"What do you mean?" asked Sapphire, her tone growing ever icier.

"Just look at Facet 31's Gems" said Garnet, he voice becoming more emphatic. "Quartzes, Sapphires, Rubies, Peridots, and dozens of other types of Gem, living and working together. No caste system, no rules; just a community. If you put things back to the way they used to be, you'll lose all that. The Rubies will be worthless; each one serving a Gem elite, but never talking to them like an equal. The Sapphires will just be soothsayers, and the Quartzes will just be soldiers; all just going about their business, never crossing paths. Is that what you want?"

That did it. For the first time, a flicker of uncertainly crossed Sapphire's face. Garnet had thought that it might. She had seen the way the small blue Gem's face lit up whenever she mentioned Facet 31's Rose Quartz. Another Gem might have confused it for the admiration all the rest of Facet 31's Gems had for their leader, but to Garnet, the reality was as clear as day. After all, she'd stared at that same face with that same expression five thousand seven hundred and fifty years ago, and again, just a short time ago, on her wedding day. She knew what a Sapphire in love looked like.

Sapphire stared absent-mindedly into space as the impact of the fusion's words hit her. Did going back to the old ways really mean being separated from Rose? Had Rose been planning on that, or had she not realised? Sapphire wasn't even sure which of those options was worse. Sapphire kicked herself for never noticing it. It wasn't like she was ignorant of the fact that all sorts of Gems worked together in Facet 31, but somehow, she had never picked up on the contradiction this represented. Facet 31, in their quest for the preservation of Homeworld's ideals, was in fact moving away from them. She didn't know what to think. She had never been unhappy with her life on Homeworld before the war. It had been Pink's rebellion that had caused everything to go to hell, so it had seemed only natural to want the old system back; but now that she had experienced life in Facet 31, could she really go back to being just another Sapphire again? Who would she even work for? If they deposed the Diamonds, she wouldn't be answering to them. She had always hoped that once the battle was over she would be serving at Rose's side, but Quartzes weren't leaders. Did Rose intend to go back to being a soldier once all this was over, or was she planning to make herself an exception to the old system, and rule over Homeworld as the Diamonds' replacement? Did she plan on extending that privilege to the rest of Facet 31 too? And if so, had all that talk about wanting things back the way they were been a lie? Sapphire's heart told her to trust in Rose, and just believe that her leader had everyone's best interests at heart; but her head was now swimming with countless questions that seemed impossible to shake off. She needed answers, and she could only get them from Rose herself.

"I-I….." Sapphire began, unsure of how to even answer Garnet's question.

Garnet crouched down to look Sapphire in the face. The gesture was rather pointless, as Sapphire saw through her future vision rather than an eye, but Sapphire found herself more at ease like this all the same. "Let's go and talk to Rose ourselves" said Garnet, speaking in a soft, reassuring voice. "If she cares about you half as much as you care about her, she'll tell you the truth; and if you don't like the answer, there's no one better than you to convince her to change her mind."

Lost for words, Sapphire paused for a moment, then simply nodded, and gestured for Garnet to follow her. She couldn't believe she was taking the advice of a Crystal Gem; a _permafusion_ , of all things. Still, if there was even a chance that her future with Rose was in jeopardy, she needed to find out. Her confusion over what lay ahead was causing her future vision to act up, and the picture in front of her was growing patchy and hard to make out. Luckily, the zoo's layout was the same in basically every immediate future, so she was able to navigate the corridors without assistance from Garnet. The two made their way towards the command centre, where Sapphire knew Rose would be, lying in wait for Pink Diamond, or "Steven" as the fusion seemed to insist on calling her. She only hoped that they got to Rose before Pink did. If a fight was already underway then they arrived, she would have little chance to talk to Rose about anything.

As Sapphire and Garnet neared the command centre, they heard voices approaching them. Quartz soldiers; dozens of them from the sound of it. "Fusion! We've got company!" Sapphire shouted back to her unlikely partner.

"It's Garnet" Garnet shot back, trying not to let her annoyance to slip into her voice. "Anyway, can't you call them off?"

Sapphire shook her head. "If it was just Amethysts then maybe, but the Rose Quartzes won't listen to me, they only answer to Rose herself. Besides, if I change the timeline any more, I'll just blind myself completely." She stopped and turned to face Garnet. "You're the tough one aren't you? Use some of that Ruby muscle of yours and get us out of this mess."

Beneath her golden visor, Garnet rolled all three eyes. "I hope you can hold out a little longer Steven" she thought to herself. "I'm coming as fast as I can…"


	42. Chapter 42

Steven just managed to roll out of the way of the sword that swung his way as its owner, a Rose Quartz, lashed out at him with surprising speed. The Quartzes had appeared almost out of nowhere a short while ago, and frantic communications from Garnet and Pearl's teams had confirmed that the same thing had happened for each of them. There had been radio silence from the other teams ever since, and Steven had no idea whether his friends had succeeded, or failed. He tried to keep his mind clear, knowing that he needed to keep his focus on the Gems in front of him if he wanted to survive, but no matter how hard he tried, his thoughts kept drifting back to his own failure. The fact that these Quartzes had been able to jump them like this meant that Rose had seen their plan coming. She had probably become suspicious after he took control of her body to find Facet 31's location. If he had just been more careful; if he had just covered his tracks better, then maybe…

"Steven!"

Connie's voice cut through the cacophony of the battle. Steven wheeled around in the direction of the sound, keeping his shield projected behind him with one arm, to keep his own attackers at bay. His eyes widened in shock at the sight that greeted him. Connie was held in the grip of one of the Rose Quartzes, her arms completely restrained by the huge Gem soldier. Another Quartz carried Connie's sword, having evidently wrestled it off her during the fight.

"Connie!" Steven cried out, moving to jump at the Quartz.

"Ah ah ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you" mocked the Rose Quartz holding Connie. Keeping Connie restrained with one arm, she raised the other, and wrapped her huge hand around Connie's head from behind. Connie was ardently refusing to cry out for help; she didn't want to give Facet 31 the satisfaction, and she especially didn't want to put Steven in a more difficult position than he already was. Regardless, her eyes betrayed her true fear, and Steven could see it clearly.

"Put away your weapons or the human gets it" continued the Quartz. Reluctantly, Steven dissipated his shield. Bismuth took slightly longer to act, shooting death glares at the Quartzes around her, before finally shifting the hammers on the ends of her arms back into normal hands. Steven gave Bismuth a silent, thankful look before the Quartzes moved in and grabbed the two of them. Two soldiers restrained Steven, lifting him off his feet by the arms. All the others focused on keeping Bismuth restrained, intent on making sure the large Gem wouldn't pose a threat to them. "Bring them this way" the Quartz said to her fellow soldiers. "Rose will want to have a word with them."

Steven wasn't sure how to feel about this. On the upside, they were being brought straight to Rose, which is where his team had been trying to go in the first place. On the other hand, this was not how they had hoped to get there. As he and the others were carried into the zoo's command centre, he glanced around the room. Groups of Peridots were frantically tapping away at various consoles, while Quartzes and Rubies stood guard at every entrance. A chair sat on a slightly raised platform in the middle of the room. It was turned away from them, but from the shock of pink hair visible beyond it, it was clear who was sat in it.

"Well well well" the familiar voice spoke, "so you finally decided to grace us with your presence Pink. I've been waiting for the chance for us to catch up." Rose swivelled the chair to face them, before rising from it and walking down to the group of guards. The Quartz carrying Steven dropped him at Rose's feet. She bent down and gently lifted his chin, all the while staring down at him with a patronising smirk.

"Rose, please" Steven began, "the fighting has to stop. I know Pink hurt you, but we-" Rose put her finger to his lips, silencing him. The hefty digit was large enough to cover his entire mouth. It was clear to him that despite the fact that he was a lot more durable than a regular human, it would have been so easy for her to kill him. But she hadn't; she wanted him alive for some reason. He quickly found out why.

"Hush now" she said, as though talking to a baby. "You're going to miss the show." Her tone reminded Steven of the time he had spoken to "his mother" in his Gem room back on Earth. But this time it was laced with a malice hidden just under the surface. Whatever this Rose Quartz was referring to, it wasn't good.

"Now then" said Rose, standing up and returning her voice to a normal volume, "shall we get started people?" The Peridots at the consoles lining the walls nodded at each other, before one of them, presumably the chief engineer, nodded to Rose herself. Rose walked back over to her command chair, but didn't sit down. Instead, she just leant over and typed a sequence into the panel on the arm of the seat. As she hit the final button, the entire room began to shake. Steven, Connie, and Bismuth began looking around frantically, unsure of what was going on, but the Facet 31 Gems seemed unfazed (save for a couple of Rubies, who presumably hadn't been paying attention). Rose strode over to the viewscreen at the front of the command centre, raised her arms to her sides, and smiled. "This is where the fun begins."

* * *

**Sun Incinerator, drifting in ring system:**

Lars fell to the floor with a thud. He had been reclined in his chair, flicking through a comic book to pass the time, when a thunderous rumble had sent him leaping out of the seat with a startled yelp. He got to his feet, wincing and rubbing a sore patch on his head, and looked around for the source of the noise.

"What the heck was that?! Fluorite, tell me you didn't switch on the nova….thrusters…" The last couple of words came out slow and mumbled as his eyes fell on the bridge's front window, and he saw the true reason for the noise. The large thrusters bolted to the sides of the zoo had flared into life, and those on the top and port sides of the station were firing with all their might, emitting spikes of while-hot flame. Under the pushing force, the zoo began to reorient itself, rotating in three dimensions, until the narrow end pointed away from the planet which the zoo orbited, towards some indeterminate point in space.

Lars fumbled for his communicator. "Steven, what's going on over there?!"

There was no reply. He repeated his question over every channel, hoping to get hold of somebody; anybody on the away team. Ominous silence was all he received. He turned his gaze back to the zoo, which was now slowing its rotation as the thrusters on its other sides fired to counter the previously applied force.

"I don't understand" said Rhodonite from her seat near the front of the bridge. "Why go to all that effort just to turn the station around?"

Lars couldn't figure it out either, but he knew whatever the purpose was, it probably wasn't good. "Just be ready to bring all the systems back online as soon as I give the word" he said, projecting as much confidence as he could in the face of such an imposing sight. "Steven might be needing our help pretty soon."

* * *

**Human Zoo:**

Once the station stopped moving, the rumbling subsided. Steven had seen the view of the stars changing through the command centre's main viewer, so he was aware that the zoo had turned, but he wasn't sure why. Had Facet 31 been trying to turn it into a giant ship and fly it somewhere? And if so, had what had happened just now been a success, or a failure? The station had moved a little, but it certainly hadn't left the system. He turned his gaze back to Rose, who was still staring out at the stars.

Rose turned back to face him again. A wide grin spread across her face. "Well Pink, are you curious? Don't you want to know what I'm planning?"

Steven didn't bother to reply. He knew getting response out of him would just spur her on, and he suspected she was about to tell him anyway. Rose quickly obliged. "Now, we _could_ have just attacked Earth conventionally, but given how your precious Humans have advanced since I was last on Earth, that plan carried a good deal of risk. So, I decided to be more innovative; to find a way to strike at Humanity without risking our own. However, I ran into a snag. Do you know what the problem with Gem technology is, Pink? It's very impressive, yes; far more advanced than that of any other race we've encountered, but it has one fatal flaw: it just doesn't seem to know how to deal with organics."

That much was true. Steven remembered how his half-human anatomy had allowed him to walk straight through Gem forcefields in the past, albeit with a rather unpleasant tingling sensation. A pure organic would likely have been able to pass through them as though they weren't even there. It wasn't just the forcefield either. He remembered how the robonoids sent to destroy the Off-Colours had been completely unable to detect Lars; their scanning beams blind to anything other than Gems. For a race that had spent millennia conquering organic worlds, their technology wasn't very well adapted for this purpose. Evidently their military might was advantage enough, so the Gems had no need of most of their innovations when fighting organics.

"So, I set about finding something that would be more effective" Rose continued, ignorant of Steven's internal musings. "I realised that there are a couple of pieces of Gem technology that _are_ effective against organics. The first are our kindergartens, which can suck the life force straight out of organics, but all the colony worlds are under Diamond or Crystal Gem control, so I couldn't get access to any of those. That left only one logical option: your Human Zoo. I remembered the time I spent here, as I guarded you during your visits to your pets. Specifically, I remembered how this station's scanning beams were specially designed to interact with Human biology."

"I don't understand" Steven piped up, his curiosity overwhelming him. "You wanted the zoo…to scan us?"

Rose scoffed. "Of course not. Do you know _how_ the station scans Humans? It uses incredibly small amounts of x-rays. But what if someone were to turn the beams up; augment the zoo to focus all its power into one giant radiation beam? I'll tell you: you'd have a weapon capable of destroying any and all organic life, across an entire planet! And with the ship components we've grafted on to the zoo, we can generate a beam more than powerful enough to do that. We can even fire it at speeds equal to a ship's gravity drive, so the Diamonds won't have time to stop it before it hits its target."

Steven's eyes were wide in shock. The zoo was a weapon?! Deriving great satisfaction from his expression, Rose continued. "When I was released from my bubble, I heard stories of the 'corruption attack' the Diamonds used to end the war; a beam of energy that was deadly to Gems, but harmless to organics. I'm going to do the reverse. I'm going to wipe your little pets from the face of the Earth, leaving only mineral life unharmed. Consider it karma for when you sacrificed Gem lives for the sake of those creatures!"

"That's ridiculous!" Bismuth shouted from somewhere behind Steven. "Even if you did manage to wipe out the Humans, what's to stop the Diamonds from swooping in and hunting you all down afterwards? Don't think they won't. The Crystal Gems found out first-hand how ruthless they can be."

"We don't care what happens to us afterwards" Rose replied in an icy tone. "Our lives ended the day we were betrayed. If we can rally enough support on Homeworld to overthrow the Diamonds, that's the ideal; but if we can't, at least we'll go out as _true_ Gems."

Around the room, every Rose Quartz nodded in approval, their faces the very picture of determination. Some of the other Facet 31 Gems seemed less sure, but nodded along all the same, trying to mask their obvious nervousness. Steven couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. He had known that Rose was driven, but this? This was insane. Was she really so angry at Pink that she was willing to sacrifice herself and all her allies just to get rid of Humanity? He studied Rose's face for any sign of deception, but he found none. If she was bluffing, she was very good at hiding it.

"Begin charging sequence!" Rose shouted to one of the Peridots. The slender green Gem obliged, typing a short sequence into the nearest console. As she finished, a low, electronic whine began to reverberate through the station, growing slowly higher in pitch as it went on. Steven could feel it vibrating through his bones. The weapon they were charging must have been huge. "Oh and…bring Earth up on the viewscreen" Rose casually ordered a second Peridot. A holographic screen appeared just in front of the main viewing port, obscuring a corner of it. As it formed, the unmistakable image of Earth flickered into life. "Sit back and enjoy the show Pink" Rose said with a wide, twisted grin. "I want to see the look on your face when your beloved Earth dies."


	43. Chapter 43

Connie watched on in horror as Rose Quartz explained her plan. When the Gem finished her speech, a deceptively peaceful image of Earth hung on the viewscreen. Connie knew that if she and the others didn't do something, that peace would soon be shattered; wiped away in an instant by Facet 31's terrible weapon. The Quartz soldier who was restraining Connie had let go of her head now, no longer needing to directly threaten her to ensure Steven's cooperation. Instead, the huge Gem simply held her tightly in one arm. Connie could turn her head, and move her legs, but her arms were pinned firmly to her sides. Connie had tried to wriggle free while her captor was focused on Rose's speech, but the arm that restrained her was like concrete, not giving an inch as she fidgeted.

Accepting the futility of this particular idea, Connie turned to look at Steven. He was still on his hands and knees where his own Quartz captor had dropped him when they'd first entered the command centre. The revelation of Rose's true plan had obviously been a blow to him, so much so that he now seemed lost in his own thoughts, staring off into space and paying little attention to what was going on around him. Connie knew that, as usual, he was probably beating himself up over this. Despite his recent discovery that there was no part of his mother still alive within him; that his gem was entirely his own, he still seemed intent on carrying the weight of her mistakes on his shoulders. It had been his mother who had earned Rose's ire in the first place, so Steven saw it as his job to clean up her mess. He had always risen to the challenges his mother's legacy had thrown his way, but being faced with the people she had hurt over and over again was clearly beginning to wear him down, as it would anyone.

Connie longed to help him somehow, but thus far she felt as though she'd been little more than a hindrance. She and Steven had formed Stevonnie during their first confrontation with Rose, but it hadn't been enough. Connie had accompanied him on this second mission to try to make up for it, but she found herself again feeling useless. Steven and Bismuth had allowed themselves to be captured because she had become a hostage; because she hadn't been strong enough to look out for herself. And now, they were all prisoners, being forced to watch the destruction of their home. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like to feel Steven's second-hand guilt over his mother's actions, but Earth's impending doom hit her just as hard as anyone else. As she gazed at Earth's image on the viewscreen, she couldn't stop her thoughts from wandering back to her mother and father, and the residents of Beach City; everyone who would be killed if they failed. She fought back the tears that were threatening to form in the corners of her eyes. She knew that seeing her break down would only make things harder for Steven. She needed to be strong for him; for everyone.

* * *

Rose stared down at Pink, drinking in the look of defeat on the tiny Diamond's face. Her former leader's bizarre, organic form was still unpleasant to look at sometimes, but Rose would gladly stare if it meant she could see the moment when Pink's spirit broke. Still, that wouldn't come for another few minutes, when the beam would be ready to fire, and she could finally unleash hell on the failed colony world that had taken everything from her. She turned back to the viewscreen. The command centre's window was facing "upwards" relative to the station, but with a couple of taps to her console, she brought up another screen showing the view of where the weapon's tip was aiming. The narrow tip of the station pointed towards a star that looked from this distance much like all the others, but Rose knew that this was not just another star; this was the star that sustained Earth. Her Peridots had somehow managed to make the device so precise that it could target a single planet in a system billions of miles away. She admired them for their ingenuity, just as she admired the rest of Facet 31 for their bravery and dedication.

As she reflected on this feeling of pride, one face occupied her thoughts specifically; the smiling visage of a small, blind Sapphire. Rose wasn't sure why she was thinking of Sapphire at this moment, over even her fellow Rose Quartz, but she supposed it did make sense. After all, everything that had happened in the last day had been made possible by the small blue Gem. Rose had always expected that Pink would attempt to interfere with her plans; hell, she'd actively been hoping for it; but it was Sapphire who had been able to tell her specifically when and how Pink would make her move. It was her precognition that had allowed Rose to set her trap so successfully.

When Rose had first met Sapphire, she had been blind, scared, and uncertain. But now, with her future vision restored, she had become an invaluable, if slightly overenthusiastic member of Rose's team. Though Rose had to admit, she was less perturbed by Sapphire's attention than she used to be. Initially, the borderline euphoria Sapphire seemed to demonstrate whenever she spoke to her had made Rose a little uncomfortable. Now though, she found it a refreshing source of positivity that prevented her from becoming lost in her bitter old memories. She had even found herself actively seeking out conversation with the soothsayer when in need of cheering up, or when she just felt like seeing her smile. Rose found herself wishing that Sapphire was by her side now, so that they could witness the moment of their victory together, but she knew that her fellow rebel had a personal matter of her own to attend to. At this moment, she and a squad of Quartzes were surely putting an end to the Crystal Gems' permafusion; a being who was the target of Sapphire's rage much the same way Pink was for Rose. If seeing the fusion meet its end was what would make Sapphire the happiest right now, Rose was content to wait.

* * *

Lapis and Peridot stood by the door to the humans' cell, peering in through the inset window. The humans were slightly calmer now, but were still clustered at the back of the room, casting frightened glances as the two Gems. Peridot pulled her face away from the window and let out an exasperated sigh. Sensing that her companion didn't need to see any more, Lapis put her down.

"Urgh! How are we supposed to get the humans off the station if they won't come near us?" said Peridot. "If we open the door now, they'll probably just rush out and disperse around the entire zoo."

It was unfortunate; up until recently, these humans had been very trusting of Gems, but Facet 31's treatment of them had seen to it that they were now much more on edge around their alien keepers. Peridot was sure that it would be difficult to move them without causing a panic, and if humans ran off in every direction, some would surely run into Facet 31 guards, and end up in even more danger. Regardless, something had to be done, and soon. Steven's plan hinged on getting the humans off the station before the real fighting started. Peridot cupped her chin between her thumb and forefinger, and began pacing in small circles, trying to come up with a solution. She had only been at it for about thirty seconds when she heard the cell door slide open. Startled, she looked up to see Lapis standing with her hand on the door panel.

"Lapis?! What are you thinking?!"

The slender blue Gem looked slightly confused, but otherwise unfazed. "It'll be fastest if we do it like this" she replied. As if on cue, hone of the humans floated out of the cell, restrained from the neck down by a bubble of water. The human looked like a gibbering wreck, but mercifully, they were at least staying quiet. Peridot didn't much like the idea of traumatising them further than they already had been, but she was also aware that their fate would be a lot worse if they didn't get out soon.

"Alright, fine" Peridot relented, "but try not to scare them too much, ok?"

"I'll try" replied Lapis. "Where are we taking them?"

Peridot brought up the map of the zoo on her tablet. If it was right (and despite Facet 31's modifications it probably was), then the escape pods weren't too far from their current position.

"This way" she said, beckoning Lapis with one arm before jogging off down the corridor. Lapis followed, levitating the long precession of humans behind her, each one in their own bubble. Having all these humans out in the open put them in a pretty vulnerable position, but she didn't see any other way to make the plan work, so she simply prayed that the next phase would go off without incident.

* * *

**Sun Incinerator:**

Lars paced anxiously around the bridge, occasionally looking out of the front screen at the imposing sight of the zoo. The behemoth hung motionless in space, its thrusters having fully stopped its turning motion. He didn't know what the purpose was behind moving the zoo in the first place, but he was sure it wasn't good. Part of him wanted to fire up the incinerator's power core and charge in there, but he had held position for now. Steven had been very specific than no hostile action was to be taken until either the hostages were safely evacuated, or they were left with no other choice. The question was whether or not the latter condition had been fulfilled yet. Lars' instincts told him to wait a little longer. If all the stories he'd heard were true, Steven had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat countless times before, usually at the last minute. He had to hope that his friend could do it again.

The entire time he had been waiting, he had been staring down at his communicator from time to time, hoping for some signal; _any_ signal from the away team to tell him what was going on over there. After an agonizing period of waiting, he finally received one. An irritating burst of static filled the previously silent bridge for a moment, drawing Lars' attention back to the Cookie Cat-shaped communicator that hadn't left his hand since the away team had departed. Once the static subsided, a voice finally came through.

"Come in Sun Incinerator, this is Peridot."

"And Lapis!"

"Uh…and Lapis. Anyway, we have the human hostages, and are loading them into the escape pods now. I doubt they're capable of piloting them, so once they're in space we'll need you to pick them up."

Lars was overjoyed to finally get some news, but he was eager to know more about the situation over on the station. "Sure thing guys! What happened on your end anyway? You all went silent for a while."

Peridot replied almost instantly. "We were all jumped by Quartz guards not too long ago. Facet 31 must have known we were coming somehow. We haven't been able to raise the others yet. We'll call again once we know their status. Peridot out." The small green Gem closed the channel before Lars could get another word in.

"Wow, rude" he said largely to himself. He had only met Peridot shortly after returning to Earth and since then had learned to expect her impolite nature, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

Regaining his composure, he turned to face his crew, knowing that they would need to respond quickly once the hostages' escape pods were loose. "Fluorite, bring the main power core back online! Rutiles, as soon as the pods are loose, put us on an intercept course! We've gotta get them on-board before any of Facet 31's ships notice them floating around out here."

As the Off-Colours set about their tasks, he settled himself back into his command chair, feeling a lot more at ease now that there was something to actually focus on. The bridge's lights flickered back on as main power came back online. Within moments, the first pods were breaking loose of the zoo. The spherical pink pods seemed to phase straight through the hull, rather than being deployed out of any sort of bay. As they popped free of the station, like droplets of water pinching free from a dripping tap, they slowly drifted away from the massive station, clearly under no internal power of their own.

The Rutile twins piloted the Incinerator over to the pods without hesitation, and the ship began scooping the pods up with its tractor beam. _"Guess it's about to get a lot more crowded in here"_ Lars thought to himself. He wasn't sure how comprehensively the hostages had been filled in on what was going on, so he tried to mentally prepare himself for the fact that he might have a lot of explaining to do very soon. But before all that, there was one more thing that needed to be done. Lars lifted his communicator to his mouth. Given that things had apparently gone south in a big way over on the zoo, he wasn't expecting an answer, but anyone on the other end would still hear his message, and that would be enough. "Everyone, this is Lars. We are go for phase 2…"


	44. Chapter 44

Opal let out an exhausted sigh as she flopped into a sitting position on the grass of the enclosure. The Gems of her Quartz attackers lay haphazardly in the field around her. It had been a gruelling fight, but she had managed to poof all of them. She wasn't used to feeling tired; usually she didn't exist long enough to feel the fatigue from a battle, given Amethyst and Pearl's lack of desire to be her for long periods. As she sat, taking in the pleasant if obviously synthesised air as she stretched her aching arms, she heard a burst of static from off to her side. He eyes darted over to it, revealing the source to be one of her communicators, which had been knocked from her hand during the fight. Getting clumsily to her feet, she scrabbled over to it. Finding that her hands were too large to properly pick it up, she sighed.

"Time to go again" she said to the empty room. One brief flash of light later, Amethyst and Pearl stood separately in the grassy chamber. Pearl picked up the communicator and played the last transmission. It was just the words she had been hoping to hear:

"Everyone, this is Lars. We are go for phase 2…"

She let out a sigh of relief. At least one part of the plan had gone as intended. With the hostages freed, one huge problem was off the table, and that would allow them to be a lot less delicate from here on. She produced a second communicator out of her Gem. A far cry from the plastic walkie-talkie in her left hand, this one was halfway between crystalline and metallic; technologically in another league. A Diamond Line communicator. She activated it, and tapped her foot impatiently as the holographic screen formed out of it. A second later, White Diamond's face appeared on the screen.

"Pearl, what's going on over there?" White blurted out, sounding concerned.

"The hostages have been freed" Pearl replied, keeping her answers brief for time's sake. "We're go for phase 2."

"Understood" White said, before closing the channel.

* * *

**Diamond Fleet:**

The titanic Diamond willed two more screens into existence with a thought, bearing the faces of Yellow and Blue. "I've just got word from Steven's team" she said, more confident now that she had received some good news. "Order your fleets to move in."

Yellow and Blue nodded, this time leaving the channels open. They would need to be able to reach each other quickly for the upcoming battle. A few barked orders to the fleet later and they were ready. The gravity drives of Hundreds of Gem ships lit up in unison. Had there been air in space to carry the sound, it would surely have been deafening. The Diamonds' ships linked together in their mech configuration, sans legs, due to Steven's ship still being on Earth. The bizarre floating torso moved to the head of the pack, as the last few ships aligned themselves to their course heading. Since the battle above Homeworld, extensive efforts had been taken to ensure that there were no Facet 31 moles on-board any of them. The ships were being operated by skeleton crews of only the Diamonds'' most trusted loyalists.

"All captains report ready" Yellow informed White over the comm.

"Alright then" replied White, staring out of her own viewscreen with determination. "Let's go and put an end to this."

In unison, every ship in the fleet engaged their gravity drive, and stretched off into the distance in a distorted coil. _"Hold on Steven"_ White thought to herself. _"We're coming."_

* * *

**Human Zoo:**

_"Status?"_ Rose asked the Peridot operating the console to her right.

"We should be ready to initiate the firing sequence in less than two minutes" replied the mousy green Gem, not looking up from her screen.

Rose wandered back over to the main viewer, to stare one last time at the visage of Earth. In a way, she almost missed it. This was the planet she had been born on; that she had lived on for years; that she had made all her happiest memories on. But it was also the one that had been the cause of all her pain and suffering, and therefore it had to go away. The planet shone blue and green on the display, almost mocking her with its vibrancy. Soon, all the green on its continents would be turned to brown, when Rose's weapon decimated the planet's organic life. She mused that that would make the planet much easier to look at. Just as she was about to turn back to the Peridot for another update, the sky outside the viewscreen lit up, as it was filled with the lights of a thousand Gem ships dropping out of gravity drive. Once the entry pulses faded, Rose was able to see the full scope of the threat. The Diamonds' entire fleet was hanging in the sky surrounding the zoo. Her eyes widened in shock. She had ordered that all the Crystal Gems be neutralised, save for Pink's team, and Sapphire had told the Quartzes exactly where to find them. No-one should have been alive to signal the Diamonds, unless something had gone wrong…

"Red alert!" yelled her right-hand Quartz from behind her, as Peridots and Rubies scampered around the bridge. "Battle stations! All ships defend the weapon!"

Outside the station, the ships of Facet 31's fleet flared into life; save for those which had had their vital components stripped out to modify the zoo. Breaking from the planetary rings which had been their hiding place, they formed up around the weapon. They were easily outnumbered ten to one by the Diamonds' fleet, and in many cases were outmatched too, but their crews were more than willing to go down fighting for the sake of Rose's plan.

Steven felt a mix of emotions as he watched the opposing fleets stare each other down. On one hand, the fact that the Diamonds had even showed up meant that the zoo's humans were safe. No-one on the away team would have signalled the fleet while the hostages were still on-board. It also meant that the odds were now firmly in their favour, and they now had a real chance of stopping Facet 31's weapon. On the other hand, this wasn't the outcome he had hoped for. Another battle just meant that more Gems were going to get hurt. He had truly hoped that he could resolve this without another fight. What Facet 31 was doing was wrong, but none of its Gems deserved to get shattered for it; they had been pushed down this path because of the war, just like every other Gem threat he'd ever faced. If all his foes before them had been redeemable, he had to believe that they were too, and he truly hadn't wanted to see it end like this. If there was still even a tiny chance of talking his way out of this, he had to try.

"Rose, please" he said pleadingly, "stop this. You know you can't win against those numbers. I know what Pink did was wrong, but you're not going to fix anything by getting yourself shattered!"

Rose turned to face him, but instead of the white-hot anger he had expected to see on her face, which had been her response the last time he had tried to reach her, she instead wore a smug grin. "Why are you so sure that I'm going to lose?" she replied. Despite her cheerfulness, there was a chilling edge to her words that indicated that they were far from empty talk.

She turned to one of her Peridots. "Activate our defences! I want that fleet held back until the weapon is ready!" The Peridot worked a few controls, and a low, gentle tremor rumbled through the station for just a moment. Steven and the others couldn't see what had happened, but the Diamonds and their fleet had a very clear view. All over the outside of the zoo, parts of the modified areas had opened up, revealing massive laser turrets. Evidently the parts scavenged from Facet 31's fleet had included many of the ships' weapons arrays.

Watching the sight on her viewscreen, White's eyes widened. Tapping a console to her right, she opened a fleet-wide channel. Unbeknownst to each other, White and Rose gave the order to their fleets in unison: "Open fire."

In an instant, the sky around the zoo came alive with thousands of beams of light. Ships ducked and weaved past each other, the Diamonds' fleet doing their best to dodge the zoo's weapons. Those that weren't fast enough were taking heavy damage; clearly the zoo's turrets had been augmented almost as much as the main weapon. The Diamonds' fleet was returning fire though, disabling many of the smaller Facet 31 ships which were placing themselves between the attacking fleet and the zoo. The Diamonds' ship flew on a direct intercept course for the zoo, flanked by a few smaller ships to protect it from fire until it got in close. Once Yellow deemed that they were close enough, the ship raised its arm, opened the hand, and let out a searing blast of energy from the palm.

As the zoo rocked from the impact, everyone in the command centre was knocked to the floor. In an instant, Connie was on her feet, ducking away from the arm of the Quartz soldier that tried to recapture her. Noticing that she was free, Steven and Bismuth reacted only seconds later, summoning their weapons and jumping free of the main pack of Quartzes. As Steven ran towards Connie, Rose dashed to meet him. He barely lifted his shield in time to block a swing her swing.

"Don't think that this changes anything Pink!" Rose snarled through gritted teeth. "My weapon will be charged in mere moments. Your fleet won't be able to stop me in time, and after that, none of this will matter!"

* * *

**Sun Incinerator:**

Lars and his crew stared out at the battle unfolding around them. In seconds the tranquillity of the planet's rings had turned into chaos. The zoo's humans huddled at the back of the bridge, terrified by the spectacle going on outside. Lars hated to leave his friends in the middle of such carnage, but he knew his job wasn't done yet. Turning to his crew, he began shouting instructions: "Rutile, lay in a course out of the system and activate gravity drive! We need to get these humans away from the fighting!"

The twin Gems inputted commands into their console at dizzying speed. "Course laid in captain." "Engaging gravity drive." The Sun Incinerator turned hard about, and angled itself towards an empty passage between the rocks and ice of the ring system.

Just before the gravity drive engaged, Lars took one last wistful look out of the viewscreen. "Good luck Steven. You're gonna need it."

* * *

**Escape pod bay:**

Lapis and Peridot felt the vibration as the station shook around them. There was no mistaking it: the battle had started outside. As terrifying as that prospect was, it did at least make it clear that word of the hostages' rescue had reached the rest of the team. "Come on!" said Peridot, locating the way towards the command centre and gesturing to Lapis. "We've gotta go help Steven!" Lapis didn't move from her position. Instead, she eyed up one of the escape pods, and a mischievous grin flashed across her face. Seeing Lapis smile was a rather rare and pleasant sight, but Peridot questioned whether now was the appropriate time. "Um…Lapis… are we going or what?" she said, perplexed.

"Actually" replied Lapis, still smirking "I think we might be more useful out there."

* * *

**Power Distribution Room:**

Dalton and Li were knocked off their feet as a blast rocked the station. Their guns fell from their hands with a clatter. "Urgh, what the hell is going on out there?" Dalton said predominantly to himself. A second later, he came to his senses, and remembered what he had just been doing. He snapped up into a seated position, so see Li scrambling for his gun. Dalton's eyes darted around the room, but he couldn't immediately see his own weapon. Left with little other option, he got to his feet and charge at Li. Just as Li was about to reach his gun, Dalton tackled him, and the two slid into the back wall with a thud. Dalton clambered on top of Li and did his best to restrain the younger man's limbs, but it wasn't an easy task.

"I won't let you throw our species to the wolves for the sake of a few alien lives!" Li shouted, practically foaming at the mouth with rage. He lifted his leg and kicked Dalton in the back with enough force to knock him off, before scrambling to his feet. He turned to walk towards his weapon again, but Dalton grabbed him from behind, in an effort to restrain his arms. Li jabbed his shoulder backwards into Dalton's ribs, knocking the president away, before wheeling around and landing a left hook to his jaw.

Dalton had taken a few hits like that in his time, so he remained on his feet. Wiping a drop of blood away from his lip with one finger, he stared at Li and gave a slight smirk. "Guess we're doing this the hard way."


	45. Chapter 45

Steven panted as he struggled to block the flurry of attacks that Rose sent his way.

"So, this really _is_ how you operate isn't it Pink?" Rose snarled. "Every time I become inconvenient for you, you just call in the other Diamonds to get rid of me?!"

Rose swung her sword towards Steven again, only for it to be stopped midway as it was blocked by a bright turquoise spear. Steven and Rose's gaze flashed to the side, and fell on the owner of the spear. Pearl stood gripping her weapon in both hands, straining against Rose's strength.

"Pearl!" Steven exclaimed with a smile. Rose let out a guttural growl, and swung her sword out sideways in Pearl's direction. Pearl bent over backwards, dodging the blow, before twirling round and sending a kick towards Rose's face. Rose raised her sword quickly enough to block it and remain on her feet, but the force of the attack sent her skidding few metres backwards.

"Pearl!" Steven continued. "I know what she's planning! We have to stop her!"

Pearl tossed her Diamond Line communicator to Steven. "Tell them whatever you need to. We'll keep the enemies off your back while you're busy."

Steven allowed himself a momentary glance over his shoulder. Amethyst was currently fighting her way through the throng of Facet 31 Gems, joining Bismuth and Connie. She and Pearl must have shown up together. He smiled to himself. He should have known his friends would come through for him. He activated the Diamond line communicator, and a screen bearing White's face appeared in the air in front of him.

"White! It's Steven. The zoo's a weapon, and it's pointed at Earth! You have to stop it from firing!"

White looked shocked, but responded quickly all the same. "Understood. We'll do what we can. Good luck Steven."

The channel closed, and Steven turned his attention back to Rose, who was still trying to fight her way past Pearl to get to him. He still couldn't bring himself to abandon his attempts to reason with her, but he wasn't about to let her cut one of his friends in two either. Summoning another shield, he charged back into the fray.

* * *

The Diamonds' ship was possibly the only ship in the fleet that was not a maelstrom of chaos. It was piloted exclusively by the three Diamonds, and while there was a very limited crew aboard Yellow and Blue's arms to monitor the other systems, the ship was still very quiet compared to the frenzy of activity that was surely going on on-board the other vessels. The quiet was punctuated only by the Diamonds' barked orders, and the regular rumbles of laser fire against the hull. The ship was durable enough to shrug off the majority of the attacks from the rather outdated Facet 31 ships, and was drawing ever closer to the formidable weapon that had once been the Human Zoo.

"Alright, here's the plan" White said over the internal channel, heard by everyone on the ship. "As soon as we're in range, we're going to grab the barrel of that weapon, and position the ship right in front of it. We are not to let that weapon fire at all costs. We've already done so much harm to Earth over the course of our history; we cannot let any more harm come to it as a result of our conflict."

Sat in her command chair in her arm, Yellow nodded to herself in agreement. It was time to start making up for millennia of mistakes. As the Diamonds' ship came within reach of the weapon, Yellow and Blue willed their arm ships to reach out. The enormous mech grabbed the barrel of the weapon with both hands, and then bent at the elbows, bringing the torso fully in front of the weapon's business end. It looked for the entire world like some sort of giant mechanical samurai, about to impale itself on its own sword. A jet of fire shot from the base of the torso as White engaged the launch thrusters.

From the zoo's command centre, Rose's eyes widened yet again as she realised silently what was happening. "They're trying to tilt the weapon away from Earth..."

In between parrying blows from Pearl and Steven, she turned to one of her Peridots, and spoke out loud this time. "They're trying to reorient the weapon! Switch to it to conventional fire and take them out!" Rose knew that if she tried to engage the zoo's own thrusters to counter the Diamonds', the station would likely rip itself apart. It would be quicker and safer to dislodge the Diamonds' ship from the weapon. Switching the weapon from radiation to conventional laser fire would make it a potent anti-ship tool.

The Peridot tapped the required commands into the console, her fellow Facet 31 members keeping the Crystal Gems off her back long enough for her to work. As she finished, the weapon let out a metallic wail, increasing in pitch as it wound up to fire. White watched from her bridge as the barrel of the weapon glowed in the Diamond mech's hands.

"Keep hold of that weapon!" she ordered. "We need to block that shot no matter wh-" She didn't get to finish her sentence. A titanic blast of energy fired from the end of the weapon, blowing a hole the size of a house in the torso of the mech. Yellow and Blue's hands released from the barrel as the ship's nervous control shut down. The impact blew the ship back, and left it rotating slowly end over end as it drifted away; a trail of smoke and mangled white metal tumbling from the hole in its chest.

Rose smirked as she watched the huge humanoid vessel drift away. She knew a hit like that wouldn't put the Diamonds down for good, but it pleased her to simply swat away the people who had cast her aside just as casually all those years ago. Still, best not to dwell on it too long. It would be much more prudent to capitalise on the opening she had been presented with. "Switch back to radiation mode!" she shouted to any technician who might hear her. "Prepare to fire on Earth!"

On-board the Diamonds' ship, White got groggily to her feet. She controlled her portion of the ship from the head, and had therefore survived the blow the ship had taken to the torso, but it had still been quite a bump. She tried to will some displays into existence to assess the damage, but the ship would not answer her. Evidently the damage was quite severe indeed. Resorting to more manual measures, she produced her Diamond Line communicator, and brought up Yellow and Blue on its monitors. The plume of smoke that was visible behind Yellow's head told White that their ships had taken a beating too, though at least theirs appeared to have functional lights and consoles.

"Can you two still move?" she asked hurriedly, acutely aware that Rose Quartz was likely already charging the weapon again.

"We can, but we don't have enough power to drag your ship with us" replied Blue, looking apologetic.

White was frustrated that her ability to be of active assistance was at an end, but she knew what had to be done. "That's fine" she replied. "You two go. Restrain the weapon in any way you can."

Yellow and Blue nodded, electing not to close the channel this time, so that White could still be included in at least some capacity. The two arm ships broke free of the torso and flew back towards the zoo, leaving the statuesque white bust floating in a cloud of its own debris.

The arm ships grabbed onto the weapon again. Both Diamond pilots were acutely aware that with no torso segment, they couldn't block the weapon's blasts again, but at least now they were free to attempt to reorient the weapon without coming under direct fire. Some of the station's other turrets tried to target them, but they weren't designed to be able to aim towards the main weapon. If Yellow and Blue were careful enough, they could theoretically stay in the sweet spot where they could carry out their task without having to worry about the station's defences.

"Divert all non-essential power to the thrusters!" ordered Yellow. "We have to tilt that weapon away from Earth at all costs!" Given that Earth was billions of miles away, she knew that adjusting the angle by even a fraction of a degree would be enough to prevent the shot from hitting its target. From here on, it was going to be a battle between their ships' thrusters, and those of the station.

Rose watched the two titanic metal arms grappled with the weapon. A quick glance at the screens to her right revealed that the weapon was 0.025 degrees out of alignment. It wasn't much, but it still needed to be corrected if there was to be any chance of the beam hitting Earth. She let out a snarl. "Divert some of our ships to attack the Diamonds! We need to get the weapon back into position!"

The station's thrusters were straining against the arm ships, but Rose knew that she couldn't keep this up forever. It was only a matter of time before the hull stress became too great, and the stations started coming apart. She had to hope her ships could deal with the Diamonds before that happened. Knowing that there was no more that she could do on that front, she turned her attention back to Steven, who was fending off Quartzes and Rubies from all sides. Rose reassured herself that even if she was powerless to influence the battle outside, at least she could have some measure of revenge on Pink. Shoving a path through her fellow Quartzes, she made another charge at her enemy.

* * *

**Outside surface of the weapon:**

Two escape pods melded through the hull plating of the station as though it were some sort of viscous liquid. As they pinched free of the plating, the pods began to unfold; deactivated from within by their occupants. Once the pods had folded away into flat disks beneath them, Lapis and Peridot floated in the vacuum of space. Peridot used her metal powers to move the disk underneath herself as a mobility aid, while Lapis simply allowed her own pod to drift away, having no need of it.

When the pair had evacuated the humans, the original plan had been to reunite with Steven afterwards and help him in his fight against Rose. However, with the station on high alert, the corridors were now crawling with more Facet 31 members than the two could fight their way through. Lapis though, had thought of another way they could be useful. While all Gems could survive in a vacuum, few had her or Peridot's mobility. She watched the battle unfolding around her, as colourful beams of light arced between the two factions' ships, causing explosions whenever they hit their mark. Cutting through the chaos, she chose a target. Peridot did the same, and the two gave each other a brief nod before flying off into the thick of it.

Lapis soared through the void, twirling out of the way of weapons fire from multiple ships. She was small enough that it wasn't clear if the ships of either faction had even noticed her. It was very possible the weapons fire had been intended for another ship, and she was simply experiencing the consequences of being in between the two sides. In the frigid cold of space, she was having to dedicate a portion of her focus to keeping her wings in a liquid state; running small vibrations through them constantly to keep them from freezing. It only took a small amount of her power though, so it left her a lot to work with when the time came to go on the offensive.

Glancing over to the planet which the zoo orbited, she saw exactly what she had been hoping to see. While many of the bodies in the planet's ring system were metallic, just as many were made of ice. Ice was just solidified water, and water was something she could work with. She reached an outstretched hand towards the rings. Even at a distance of thousands of metres, her power was sufficient to have quite the impact. Exercising a much greater deal of her power than she had been using to vibrate her wings, she mimed an overarm swing, and threw a piece of ice the size of a house in the direction of the nearest Facet 31 ship. The huge body crashed into the archaic yellow saucer, smashing a large hole in the hull. The antique vessel was left drifting lifelessly in space, as its crew no doubt scrambled to effect repairs.

That got Facet 31's attention. Other ships began converging on her; their fire clearly targeted at her specifically this time. Most were Era-2 sun-class vessels like Lars' ship. The more modern ships would likely not be as easy to damage as the saucer had been, but relenting wasn't exactly Lapis' style. Jutting both arms forwards, in a pose that almost looked as though she was expecting to fire lightning from her fingertips, she hurled more house-sized chunks of ice at her attackers. Her projectiles moved too fast for most of the ships to dodge, and, while they received only dents, they still reeled from the blows.

Lapis allowed herself another smile; the third or fourth one that day, which was probably some sort of record. On Earth, she often had to reign in her power, out of a desire to avoid property damage, or to not frighten the humans. Out here though, in space, she could really cut loose. Her only regret was that the nearby planet was a gas giant, and therefore had no ocean for her to manipulate. Then it would _really_ have been fun. Still, she was more than capable of making do with the tools she had. Summoning another hunk of ice from the rings, she sped towards one of the dazed vessels. Facet 31 was going to regret messing with her home.


	46. Chapter 46

Peridot flew gracefully through space on the metallic disk that had once been an escape pod. She had been practicing her flying ever since the battle with the Diamonds' mech, and by this point had manoeuvring down to a fine art. Another plus was that she had no shortage of weapons. The battle had only being going on for a few minutes, but already the space around the zoo was littered with debris from damaged ships. Reaching out with her metal powers, she took hold of a large sheet of battered, yellow metal that was about twice her own size. It had likely been sheared off a Facet 31 saucer at some point. On Earth, Peridot's powers would have struggled to even lift a piece of metal this size, but out in the vacuum of space, everything was weightless. As a result, she was able to swing the large hunk of hull plating with ease.

Turning her attention to the nearest facet 31 ship, she flung the piece of bent metal with all her might. It spun towards the sun-class ship and struck it on the starboard side, cutting a deep gauge in its hull. The ship rocked from the impact, and sparks and shards of metal were blown out into space through the gash in its side. She ship turned to aim its main guns at Peridot, but never got the chance to use them. One of Homeworld's hand ships took advantage of the damage Peridot had done, firing a bolt from its finger straight into the damaged section of the Facet 31 ship. As the sun-class vessel tumbled away from the impact, its lights went out. The hand ship flashed Peridot a thumbs-up, before moving off to target another ship. Peridot knew she was only going to be of limited help compared to the weapons of the Diamonds' starships, but any time she could buy Steven could count for something. She used her powers to take hold of a shard of plating which had been ripped away from the Facet 31 vessel during the impact, and followed the hand ship further into the battle.

* * *

**Human Zoo, Command Centre:**

Rose fought like a cornered animal. All semblance of posturing or strategy had left her. Things had gone wrong so quickly, what with the appearance of the Diamonds' fleet, and the apparent survival of the Crystal Gems she had ordered neutralised. She knew there was still a chance of the plan succeeding, assuming her Peridots could reorient the weapon before the Diamonds took the station. However, she also knew that there was now very little chance that anyone in Facet 31 would be coming out of this in one piece. Even if they fired the weapon, they would still be outnumbered and outgunned, and would surely be captured in the following minutes. The logical part of her mind knew that this was the reality, but the emotional part refused to acknowledge it. She couldn't stop yet; not until she made Pink pay; not until Homeworld was returned to its former glory. She had to beat these Crystal Gems somehow, and she had to escape with enough of Facet 31 to continue the fight, and overthrow the Diamonds.

Part of her had known that that last part was unrealistic from the beginning. They hadn't the numbers, or the power to achieve it. But she didn't care. She wasn't going to live under the people who had so casually cast her and her fellow Rose Quartzes aside; the people who had made Sapphire, and all the other Gems who had flocked to Facet 31, feel so forgotten. No, she and Facet 31 would take Homeworld, or be shattered trying. She put her trust in her Peridots to handle the eradication of Earth, and focused herself on the fight. She had hoped to watch the planet die herself, with Pink bound at her feet, but it seemed that was no longer going to be possible. Having Pink die in the knowledge that her world's doom was near would have to suffice. She charged towards the small, fleshy body which Pink now resided in, knocking aside the Crystal Gems' Pearl with one swing of her forearm. As Pink turned to face her with shield in hand, Rose raised her sword to strike.

"Rose!"

A voice cut through the noise of the command centre. There were few voices that could get Rose's attention instantly. In the chaotic din of the battle, she had already tuned out the frantic shouting of her technicians, and the battle cries of her fellow Quartz soldiers. One voice though, was enough to get her to instantly snap her head around, taking her attention away from even Pink. Sapphire's voice.

Rose turned just in time to see Sapphire stood in one of the command centre's entry doorways. She opened her mouth to speak to her; to tell her to get further away from the fighting, but her words caught in her throat when she noticed the Gem who was accompanying Sapphire. Standing next to Sapphire was the Crystal Gems' fusion; Garnet. She was looking rather banged up, but was completely unrestrained, and was looking at Sapphire with a calmness that made it clear that the small blue Gem was not her captor. Rose simply stood, staring, unable to process what she was seeing. Sapphire despised that fusion. Why would the two of them be standing there together? What was going on? Before Rose had the chance to spiral any further into confusion, Sapphire ran up to her and stood at her feet, looking up at her imploringly.

"Rose, I…I need to talk to you. Right now" said Sapphire in a tone of mixed embarrassment and trepidation. Rose didn't know what to think right now, but she knelt down to Sapphire's height to listen. It must have been a surreal sight; two Gems just stood still in the middle of a raging battle, while almost everyone continued to fight around them. The only other people not currently engaged in combat were Garnet and Steven, who simply were simply watching events unfold, seemingly dumbfounded that Rose had even stopped to talk to Sapphire.

"Sapphire….what is it? This isn't exactly the best time" said Rose, in a tone of confusion rather than annoyance.

"It's just…" Sapphire began, nervously twiddling her fingers "are you sure this is what you want?"

Yet again, Rose was at a loss for how to respond. Surely Sapphire wasn't having doubts now? Rose's eyes briefly flicked up to Garnet, who had remained in the doorway. Had the fusion said something to her; manipulated her somehow? Turning her head back down to face Sapphire, she finally asked "What do you mean? This is what we both wanted, right?"

Sapphire looked as though she was about to fall apart at any moment. She gulped, and attempted to regain her composure, before continuing: "Of course! I mean…yes it was, but…" Rose didn't like where this was going, but she made no effort to stop Sapphire. This, she needed to hear.

"I've…had a lot of questions lately…" Sapphire continued. "Questions my future vision couldn't answer, like… where this plan's going to leave us."

Rose was growing irritated, but tried her best to mask it in her reply. "What….do you mean?"

Still wringing her hands, Sapphire spoke up again. "Well… I'm just not sure that this plan is going to get us the kind of lives we would want, or at least that I would want; I don't know if you feel the same, I just-" She paused to collect her thoughts, having blurted out more than she had meant to.

Taking a deep breath and collecting herself, she made a second attempt. "Look, I know how you feel about this plan, but is it really the best thing to do? I mean, I understand wanting revenge on Earth, and even the Diamonds, but what are we going to do once that's done? I know you said we'd put things back the way they used to be, but I'm just not sure I want that anymore. I'd just be a tool again. My only purpose would be to tell the future. Everyone in Facet 31 would just be shoved back into their old jobs again; we wouldn't all be together like _this_ anymore."

Rose had to shake her head in shear disbelief at Sapphire's questioning. Everything Rose had done had been to make Pink and the other Diamonds pay for how they'd mistreated their Gems. Facet 31's camaraderie had been an enjoyable side effect, yes, but that always came second to the master plan. Surely the fusion had got into Sapphire's head in some way. That was the only reason her hitherto loyal confidant would be questioning their mission now. "What are you talking about?!" Rose snapped back with more venom than she had intended, unable to hide her annoyance any longer. "Of course we'll go back to our old lives. Wasn't that the whole point?! Weren't we all _happy_ before the Crystal Gems showed up?!"

Sapphire's expression was enough to make it clear that she was not convinced. In fact, a look of irritation was now encroaching on her anxious face. "Yes, I was happy _then_." The dainty blue Gem replied with a powerful tone that defied her fragile appearance. "But that was before all _this_ " she continued, gesturing around the room with her arms. "Before I joined Facet 31; before I met _you_. When all this started, I was so focused on how the war had hurt me that I just wanted to turn back the clock, but after everything we've been through…I'm not the same person. I couldn't live that life anymore. As ridiculous as it sounds, I'm glad all this happened."

Rose was scarcely containing her fury now. "Well I'm _not_!" she replied in a white hot rage. "It may surprise you to learn that I didn't _want_ to be stabbed in the back by my own Diamond, be bubbled for millennia, and wake up only to find that the rest of Homeworld was making nice with the people responsible! Sure, Facet 31 is great, but I'd much rather there had never been a need for it in the first place! Besides, what would you prefer?! That we just leave Homeworld the way it is; not even bother to undo all the damage that Earth did?! Hasn't this whole thing been so that we could put all that behind us and move on?!"

Sapphire seemed genuinely angry now, but the steady quivering of her bottom lip gave away the sadness beyond it. If she had an eye, she would surely have been in tears. "Is that what you want?" Sapphire asked imploringly. "For us to all just go back to our lives and pretend that all this business with Earth never happened? Well I can't do that Rose. I can't just forget the last five thousand years, and pretend they haven't changed me. _You're_ the one who isn't moving on. Are you really telling me you'd rather just have everyone put back in their boxes than build something new, with me?

"It's not about that!" Rose shouted, scrunching her eyes shut and shaking her head. "Pink and the humans need to pay for what they did to me! Everyone who joined Facet 31 is here for that reason. As long as Pink gets what's coming to her, who cares what happens afterwards?!"

" _I_ care!" Sapphire shouted back, now bellowing as loudly as Rose, despite being about a quarter of the size. "Did you even think this plan through? Did you even have a vision for what we'd do afterwards? Or were you so caught up in getting revenge that you didn't care if this ended up becoming a suicide mission?!"

Rose scowled. She didn't have time for this. If they didn't fire the weapon in the next few minutes, this would all be for naught. She knew that she should be focusing on putting an end to Pink while she had the chance, but all her mind would linger on was Sapphire's betrayal. Was she really willing to abandon the fight completely, just so the two of them could run off somewhere?! Rose only had to ponder the question for a moment before she got her answer.

"Rose, listen to me!" Sapphire said pleadingly, walking right up to Rose and holding the Quartz's face between her two tiny hands. "It doesn't have to end like this. Let's just gather up all the Facet 31 members we can, hop on a ship, and go. The Diamond's won't catch us with the battle going on; we could slip away easily. Then we could find a nice planet to colonise; just us and our friends. Then the two of us could finally be-"

The last word caught in Sapphire's throat as she suddenly found that she had no breath. A sharp pain flashed through her abdomen and back. She glanced down, trying and failing to gasp in shock. Rose's blade had been thrust through the front of her torso, and was protruding from her back. Rose's hand lingered on the hilt, shaking with a mix of sadness and rage. A wave of terror washed over Sapphire. Even the wildest projections her future vision had given her hadn't shown anything like this; it had been a future too terrible for her to contemplate. Unable to speak, she raised her head and gave one last terrified glance at Rose's face. Then her future vision failed entirely. The picture before her became dark, distorted, with a myriad of futures flashing before her eyes and disappearing almost as quickly. From what little she could see of them before they vanished, there was only one inescapable truth. She wasn't in any of them. Then, there was nothing.

Steven and Garnet stood open mouthed as they saw it happen. Even the rest of the fighting in the command centre had stopped over the course of Rose and Sapphire's argument, and now Crystal and Facet 31 Gems alike were looking on in slack-jawed shock, as Rose knelt with Sapphire's Gem on the floor in front of her. Garnet clenched her teeth in rage, summoning her Gauntlets and stepping towards Rose. The instant Rose lifted her head though, Garnet froze. Instead of the maniacal grin or blind rage she had been expecting to see on the Quartz's face, there was only sorrow. The shadow of Rose's fringe covered her eyes, and tears streamed down her cheeks, as her mouth quivered in barely contained despair.

Rose turned her head to look at Steven, and spoke in a hollow, broken voice. "How much more? How much more are you going to take from me Pink?! My status, my home, and my purpose weren't enough?! Now you have to start poisoning my friends against me too?! She shot towards Steven like a bullet, somehow rising from her kneeling position faster than anyone could react. The other Facet 31 Gems didn't resume fighting this time; they simply watched on as the Crystal Gems dashed to try to reach Steven in time. As Rose charged, she thought nothing of the battle around her; not her allies, not the crystal Gems, not the weapon; she saw only Pink. Her Diamond had to suffer for this. That was all that mattered now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one's a little late. I watched the She-Ra finale on Friday and I've been unable to think about pretty much anything else since, so it was hard to find the motivation to upload a chapter of a SU fic. But it's here now, and it's one of my favourite dialogue exchanges in the entire story. Hope you liked it! See you next chapter!


	47. Chapter 47

here was a battle raging around the human zoo; thousands of Gems fighting to decide the future of their world. But none of that mattered to Rose Quartz. In the black, suffocating void of her own fury, there was no context; no wider mission; there was only her purpose. When she had first emerged, that purpose had been to fight, and build, and carry things, and generally just do what a good little soldier of the empire would do. Now though, her purpose was different. She had been through millennia of betrayal and imprisonment since then. Now, the only purpose that mattered to her was to make Pink Diamond pay.

But no one else seemed to care as much as she did. Her fellow Facet 31 Gems were angry too of course, but they all seemed too concerned with their own wellbeing to fight to their fullest; and the Crystal Gems? They didn't seem to acknowledge that Pink was even there. They indulged her as she disguised herself as a small, soft human; pretended that she was a different person entirely. Rose was the only one with the resolve to continue, even if it meant her own shattering. She had come too far to not finish things now.

Fixing her eyes on the tiny organic being that served as Pink's current form, she charged, swinging her weapon wildly, her ingrained sword training evaporating in the face of her anger. 'Steven', as the Crystal Gems liked to call Pink these days, moved with surprising agility for a being so small and stocky, blocking every one of Rose's strikes. This was frustrating enough for Rose in her fragile mental state, but what was perhaps even more infuriating was that Pink seemed to be patronising her. The rest of the Crystal Gems had rushed to their ally's aid when Rose attacked, but the tiny Diamond had raised a hand and told them to stay back. Rose might have chuckled had she not been so overcome by rage. Did Pink really think she could survive against her on her own? Rose had fought Pink before, even when the latter had been fused, and Rose had still won. What chance did Pink's diminutive form have now?

"Rose!" Steven cried out as he parried yet another sword swing. "You don't have to do this! Can't you see this isn't going to get you what you want?!"

Rose shook her head and glared at Steven through her tears, before snarling through clenched teeth: "All I _want_ is to shatter you! That's all I need!"

"That's a lie and you know it!" Steven shouted back, the once pleading tone of his voice replaced by what sounded almost like the tone of a scolding parent. He spoke with a surprising level of confidence for someone so tiny. The Facet 31 Gems all looked shocked to see their leader being spoken to this way. The Crystal Gems of course knew Steven better, and weren't so taken off guard. They had seen him stare down the Diamonds themselves, brave even in the face of their overwhelming power. If he felt that he could get through to with Rose, then they trusted him to do so. "If all you wanted was to shatter me," Steven continued, "you could have done that the last time we met, but you didn't. You could have done it on your own, but you didn't. You got all these other Gems together."

Rose screamed, and sent a flurry of blows his way, which took great effort to block. "What's your point?!" Rose growled as she continued to push him back.

"The _point_ is that you _care_ about these Gems" Steven replied in between blocks. "You wanted to give them a better life. That's why you started Facet 31 in the first place, wasn't it? Because you didn't like how you and the others were treated on by Homeworld?"

"Not just by Homeworld!" Rose shot back, having become so wrapped up in the shouting match now that she stopped even trying to attack. She simply stood with her eyes clenched shut, tears still streaming down her face, as she directed centuries of built-up emotions at Steven. "By _you_ , Pink. I was one of your most trusted soldiers; all the Rose Quartzes were, and you used us all as scapegoats for your rebellion! I wanted to make sure none of us would ever suffer like what again! So yes, I _do_ care about my Gems, unlike you!"

Pearl looked like she was about to shout a colourfully worded rebuke of some kind, but Steven cut across her. "Does _this_ look like what you had in mind? Does it look like no-one's suffering to you?!" he said, gesturing around the room.

Rose opened her eyes and looked around. It was the first time she had even noticed her surroundings in the last few minutes, having been so caught up in what was happening with Sapphire and Pink. Dozens of poofed Gems were scattered across the command centre floor, and the wreckage of damaged or destroyed vessels floated outside the main window. The ships that remained on both sides were being rocked by explosions as they continued to fight this battle; her battle. A brief pang of regret slipped through her strong-willed façade, and she felt the tears begin to flow again. She shook them off and turned to face Steven again. "So?!" she replied defiantly. "It's not like we had a choice! We couldn't live on Homeworld anymore, or on Earth; all we could do was try to makes things like they used to be!"

"Sapphire didn't think so!" Steven said with a mixture of rebuke and sympathy that only he was capable of. "She was willing to stop it all just so she could live with you, and I bet that if you asked the other Gems in Facet 31, a lot of them would say the same thing. If you trusted her to watch your back, and give you advice, why wouldn't you trust her when she said you didn't need to go through with it? You've built a family here. Why make them throw their lives away just because of what Pink did?"

"What's the alternative?!" sobbed Rose. "That we just go and live on a planet somewhere? How would that make anything better? The Homeworld we remembered would still be gone; the humans would still be swarming over Earth, and corrupting Homeworld with their backwards ideals. It wouldn't make anything better."

"You don't think that would be better?" asked Steven, desperate to make her understand. "At least you'd be able to live how you wanted. Back on the old Earth, or the old Homeworld, you were only able to do what other people wanted you to do. But you have a chance now to make your _own_ lives. If you wanna live by Homeworld's old rules, you can; if you wanna live by new rules, or no rules at all, you can do that too. No-one's saying you have to agree with what the Humans or the Diamonds are doing now, but no-one's going to let you force them to go back to the old ways either. If you stop thinking about how everyone else feels just because you're angry about something, if you let the people you care about get hurt just to get back at someone you hate, you'd be no better than the Diamonds were."

After the tiniest of pauses, he added "You'd be no better than Pink was." He hadn't been sure whether or not he wanted to add that last part, but he had committed to it. He'd been pushing it to the back of his mind ever since Garnet's wedding, but it was time to just admit it. His mother _had_ made mistakes, and if he was going to fix things, he had to acknowledge that.

For the first time, his words finally hit home. Rose began trembling as she attempted to respond to what he'd said, speaking under her breath but with frightening intensity. "No…no, I'm _not_ like her! I did all this to make up for what she did. I wouldn't hurt them like she did, I…I…"

Rose didn't have it in her to even deny it any longer. As she tried, the faces of her fellow Gems came to her; first the shocked faces of her fellow Rose Quartzes as they were hunted down by the Diamonds' forces, then the faces of her Facet 31 Gems as they fought a hopeless battle against Homeworld and Earth. Both sets of Gems wore the same terrified expressions, as they lost their lives in what should never have been their fight. Finally, another haunting face came to her. It looked up at her through the single, multi-faceted Gem it bore in place of an eye, its expression contorted in fear and sadness. Sapphire.

Rose's speech gave way to quivering and whimpering as the weight of her sins hit her. She had hated Pink for so long, but in trying to get revenge, she had done to her own family what Pink had done to her. Rose fell at Steven's feet, and began balling uncontrollably. She tried to form words, but sobs racked her body and prevented her from speaking. In mere moments, thousands of years of anger and hatred were washed away; giving way to sadness that she could no longer supress. She tried to stand, but the will to fight had left her, and her legs felt like jelly beneath her body. Every Gem in the command centre, Crystal and Facet 31 alike, simply stood and stared at the collapsed Quartz. The muffled sounds of the two fleets battling outside could still be heard through the hull, but the inside of the zoo had suddenly become very quiet.

Steven knelt down next to the sobbing Quartz sprawled on the ground before him, and pulled her with some effort into a hug. She didn't return it, but she didn't resist either. She just cried onto his shoulder as he held her. After a few minutes, Rose had enough control over her breathing to be able to speak. Still blubbing, she whispered into Steven's ear "I really can't fix things can I Pink?"

Steven pulled back slightly, and looked her in the eyes with an expression that was somehow serious and compassionate at the same time. "Pink's gone Rose. But I'm here, and I'm not going to make the same mistakes she did. We can start to make things better together, but first, the fighting has to stop. Can you do that? Not for me, or her, but for your family?" Steven had claimed to not be Pink many times since they had first met, but now, for the first time, Rose believed him. This organic, whatever it was, it didn't think the way Pink did. His compassion was the same as the Pink she had once known, millennia ago, before all the betrayal, but he had something that Pink never did: an understanding of how she felt.

Steven gazed down at the once imposing form of Facet 31's leader, hoping he had got through to her. Then, in spite of even his most optimistic expectation, Rose smiled up at him. She was still crying, but even through her tears he could tell that this was the first genuine smile he'd ever seen from her. It was completely different from the crazed smirks he had come to expect of her. She looked so innocent like this, so much like his mother. It was so easy to forget the atrocities that both had presided over. As she smiled, she finally replied. "Yeah, yeah I can do that. Y'know why? Because I _am_ better than her." The tiniest hint of malice crept back into her voice as she uttered those words, reminding Steven of a time Bismuth had said something very similar, but somehow it didn't upset his as much this time. After finding out the whole truth about his mother, he couldn't blame anyone for feeling that way anymore.

Rose got up and walked a few steps over to her comm panel, putting herself on a channel to the entire Facet 31 fleet. "All ships, this is Rose. Stand down. Repeat: stand down... It's over." Taking her finger off the panel, she slumped into a sitting position on the floor and sat looking out into space. The Facet 31 Gems occupying the command centre stood staring, some dumbfounded, some relieved. The Crystal Gems didn't seem sure how to react either. They hadn't been present when Steven had won over Lapis, Peridot, and Bismuth. Nor had they been conscious to see how he had brought the Diamonds round to his way of thinking. For the first time, they were seeing just how Steven had done it, and it was an inspiring sight. But for every Gem in the room, Crystal and Facet 31 alike, the sight raised one question. Breaking the silence, Connie was the first to vocalise what they were all thinking: "So…what happens now?"


	48. Chapter 48

Lapis and Peridot stared on in surprise as the battle around them ground suddenly to a halt. One by one the ships on both sides of the fight powered down their weapons and engines, and came to a stop, simply floating in space. Were it not for the fact that debris from the battle was still drifting about in various directions, it would have looked as though time was standing still. Lapis flew over to float beside Peridot, and the two of them gazed around at the silent fleets. "Is it over?" asked Peridot in a nervous tone. "Did Steven do it?"

* * *

Dalton and Li Froze as the announcement came over the zoo's comm channel. "All ships, this is Rose. Stand down. Repeat: stand down... It's over."

The two men, still in the grapple they had been in moments before the announcement, stared at each other for a second, before reluctantly releasing each other from their respective holds, and backing away from one another. The pair had been brawling for some time, and both were covered in bruises and cuts. Li looked a little on edge, unsure of whether or not to believe what he had just heard. His eyes flitted now and again to the makeshift explosive that lay on the floor, but he made no move to reach it. Dalton meanwhile, did not share his doubts. He'd heard the stories of what Steven had accomplished, and it looked as though the boy had pulled off yet another miracle. "He's done it!" he said out loud, partially to vocalise his own amazement, partially to make sure Li stayed calm. "The kid's actually done it!"

* * *

"All our ships are confirming it, White" said Yellow, whose image was hovering on the screen suspended in front of White's face. "Facet 31's entire fleet has powered down weapons and is broadcasting their surrender. Whatever Steven did over on the zoo, it appears to have worked."

From her chamber within her now crippled head ship, White looked out at the battlefield around her, visible on a flickering but still just about functional viewscreen. Sure enough, both fleets were now stationary, frozen in the positions they had been fighting in moments beforehand. The fact that both fleets had come to a stop likely meant that Yellow and Blue had already ordered their ships to cease fire as soon as Facet 31 had surrendered. Not something they would have done in the old days, but it seemed a lot of Steven had rubbed off on the three of them over the past few weeks.

White let out a long, relieved sigh, before returning to the matter at hand. "Thank you Yellow. Now…, I don't suppose you and Blue mind linking your arms back up to my ship? I think I'm going to need to be towed home."

Yellow rolled her eyes, but the act was accompanied by a grin that made it clear she was just playing. "Where _would_ you be without us White? Alright, we'll be with you as soon as we can, then we'll meet up with Steven together."

* * *

Not too long after, back in the zoo's command centre, Steven and the Crystal Gems stood in a group as Gems bustled around them. The Facet 31 Gems were largely milling around, unsure of what to do with themselves in light of their leader's surrender. Most of the activity was coming from the Homeworld Gems the Diamonds had sent over. In the minutes following Rose's surrender, multiple Homeworld ships had docked with the zoo, and their crews had boarded the station to make sure that Facet 31's surrender was indeed genuine, as well as to make sure the zoo wasn't coming apart at the seams after the beating it had taken during the battle.

Rose was still sat where she had been for the last few minutes, staring out at the stars. Upon their arrival, the Homeworld Gems had looked as though they were planning on trying to take her into custody there and then, but Steven had made it clear in no uncertain terms that she was to be left alone for now. He was just about to walk over and check on her when a very bedraggled Dalton and Li came stumbling into the command centre.

"Sorry we're late" said Dalton, in a surprisingly humorous tone for someone who looked like he'd just been involved in some sort of boxing match.

Li's eyes flitted around the room, quickly landing on Rose. His expression rapidly changed to the sort of look one might have upon discovering that their own hair was on fire. "Rose Quartz?! She's alive?!" he whispered into Dalton's ear.

Dalton couldn't help but smirk. "You really _don't_ know how this kid does things, do you?" he replied, though truthfully, he didn't really know how Steven had managed to end things peacefully either; he was just happy to accept the result.

The Diamonds contacted Steven soon after, and, after listening to Steven's retelling of the day's events, deferred to his judgement regarding Rose. Dalton was fairly certain the UN would have something to say about Rose's fate being decided unilaterally by a half-Gem boy, but that was a mess to clean up another day. It was very clear that Steven wasn't going to allow any of Facet 31's Gems to face a trial in the traditional sense, and with the Diamonds giving the boy their unconditional support, Earth would likely have very little say in the matter. For now, it was best to just get everyone home, and come at the issue with clearer heads when the time came to work out the specifics.

Steven contacted Lars, telling him the same story he'd just recounted to the Diamonds. Lars seemed in equal parts relieved to hear that the threat was over, and displeased at being asked to turn his ship around when he was already millions of miles from the zoo. He obliged all the same of course, and returned in short order, returning his compliment of rather shaken zoo humans to the station. They looked uneasy as the Homeworld Gems welcomed them back, and tried to calm them down. Steven knew that bringing them back to the zoo was an inelegant solution. After what Facet 31 had done, it was unclear if the humans would ever feel as at home there as they once had, but it seemed to be what most of them wanted. A few asked to be taken to Earth instead; a request which the Diamonds and Lars of course granted, though Steven suspected they wouldn't find it much easier to adjust to life there than to return to the zoo.

Once all the humans who wished to do so had disembarked from the Sun Incinerator, the away team boarded, followed by Rose, cradling Sapphire's gem in one hand. The Diamonds had thought it best for her to not be let out of Steven's sight for the next few hours, so she would be accompanying them, despite the fact that the rest of Facet 31's Gems were heading back to Homeworld, at least for the moment.

Bringing Rose back to Earth was another thing Dalton was sure that the international community would have an aneurism over, so for the time being he elected not to tell them. The Diamonds had concurred. They had made it very clear to Li, projecting a menacing tone the likes of which Dalton had never seen, that he was to keep it to himself also, or risk ending up on their bad side, with all the consequences that came with. Dalton doubted that the Diamonds would follow through on that threat, as Steven probably wouldn't let them, but it was enough to scare Li into what seemed like sincere agreement. Dalton wasn't sure what the official cover story was going to be yet, but he suspected that whatever it was, it wouldn't exactly do wonders for Earth-Homeworld relations.

Once everyone was on-board, the Sun Incinerator departed from the zoo, and before long the entire party, Crystal Gems, Humans, and Rose, were hitching a ride back to Earth. As the small Gem vessel sped through space, the eclectic mix of individuals waited out the trip in their own ways. Lapis and Peridot had made their way back to the zoo following the battle, and had been able to board with the others. Peridot was now regaling the less-than-interested Crystal Gems with slightly exaggerated tales of her feats of heroism during the fight. Lars sat in his captain's chair, casually chatting with his crew as they operated their stations. Dalton and Li simply sat against one of the walls, occasionally shooting each other awkward glances. Li had said nothing the whole trip thus far, and it didn't look like he was in any mood to start. Dalton in turn had no desire to press him. What would two people who had been prepared to kill each other mere hours ago even say to each other? Deciding that he had no desire to find out, he instead listened in on the Crystal Gems' chatter, occasionally chuckling to himself at the absurdity of the recent weeks.

Rose stood separately from the crowd, staring out of one of the viewing ports, occasionally glancing down at Sapphire's gem, which she was still holding. It had been hours, and her former confidante had not yet reformed. Rose knew it sometimes took this long, particularly in the case of especially traumatic injuries, but the knowledge that she had been the one to inflict that injury sent pangs of guilt through her until she could look at the gem no longer. Returning her gaze to the window, she saw Steven approaching from behind her in the reflection. She didn't turn to face him, knowing he would say whatever he wanted to say whether she acknowledged him or not.

"Hey Rose… are you ok?" Steven asked in a sympathetic tone. Rose wasn't sure whether to be amused or angry at being presented with such a basic and innocuous question when she had basically broken down in front of him just a few hours ago.

_"_ _What do you think? Of course I'm not OK!"_ she thought to herself, but bit back the urge to say it out loud. After all, he was probably only trying to be supportive. Pink would have been naïve enough to ask that question without already knowing the answer, but Steven wasn't Pink. On the surface, he may have seemed as cheerful and oblivious as Rose's Diamond had been, but beneath the surface was a surprising wisdom; the same wisdom that had made Rose aware of her own folly, when no one else had been able to.

Finally, she answered him. "I don't know... Not really… No." It was the only answer that felt honest. She didn't really know what lay in store for her in the future. She had hated to leave the rest of Facet 31 at the mercy of the Diamonds, but Steven had assured her that they wouldn't be harmed, and right now she had no choice but to believe him. She didn't know what she was going to do either. The ship was on its way back to Earth; a planet which reopened a lot of wounds for her. Steven had assured her that things weren't as bad there as she thought, but the fact that her presence there was to be hidden from the human population for her own protection made that difficult to believe.

"What's…going to happen to me? When I get back to Earth I mean."

Steven looked a little surprised by the question, but his expression quickly faded back into a cheerful one. "That's up to you. You'll have to stay in Beach City for a little while, until things calm down, but after that, you can decide what you want to do. You can stay with us, go back to Homeworld; whatever feels right."

It seemed as though he genuinely meant what he said, but Rose had been burned by broken promises before. She raised an eyebrow at him. "The Diamonds are really going to allow me that much freedom? After what I've done?"

"Well, the Diamonds listen to me," replied Steven, "so if I tell them that I trust you, they'll probably trust you too. I mean, Yellow might act grumpy about it, but none of them will try to stop you from living your life. That isn't how they do things anymore."

"And the humans?" Rose enquired, the organics that she had been trying to eradicate just a short while ago remaining her chief concern. "I know how crazy I went when I felt like they'd wronged me. Can you honestly tell me that there aren't humans who will want to do to me what I tried to do to them?"

Steven seemed to think for a moment, his face a little straighter now, before answering her. "Honestly, I can't promise that, but as long as you're in Beach City, you'll be safe. The people there are great with Gems." Steven was gratified that there was at least one group of humans that he could vouch for without question. Beach City's residents had been nothing short of saintly in their patience and tolerance of the aliens which had flooded their home since the corrupted Gems had been cured, not to mention the Diamonds.

Steven had been worried that after what happened at Garnet's wedding, the Diamonds' regular visits to him might put his neighbours on edge, but all of his friends had been welcoming to his giant new family members. Deep down, he knew they would be just as forgiving to Rose. He hoped that Earth's Gem residents, like Centi, would be equally forgiving. The former corrupted Gem had been on edge in recent weeks, but if anyone could understand where Rose was coming from, it was another of Pink's old soldiers. Steven was confident things would work out in the end. They usually did once people agreed to start talking.

Rose's concerned expression softened slightly, and he saw that his words had had the desired effect. "Okay, if you're so sure" conceded Rose. "I just wish I had your confidence."

Steven put his hand on hers and smiled back at her. "You will."

The two sat together for the rest of the trip back, saying very little. Steven would just pipe up with some bit of Earth-related trivia occasionally whenever it seemed like Rose's thoughts were drifting to Sapphire's gem, or when she started looking restless. As much as Rose still wasn't sure what to make of the hybrid that sat beside her, the presence of the only person outside of Facet 31 who seemed to understand her feelings did seem to calm her down. As the blue and green orb of Earth came into view, completely untouched by the destruction Rose had intended to visit upon it, the pair looked out at it together. After more than five thousand years, for better or worse, Rose Quartz had come home. Since being unbubbled, she had hated Earth from afar, but now, it was time to see what was really out there…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a couple of chapters left now. Hope you're still enjoying the story!


	49. Chapter 49

**Beach City:**

It was a pleasant evening when the Sun Incinerator finally made it back to Beach City. The sound of the ship's gravity drive powering down cut across the sounds of the ocean and the seagulls as the Gem vessel settled with a soft thud onto the sand outside Steven's house. The main door slid open with a subdued hiss, and the first of the ship's passengers emerged.

An entourage of security personnel was awaiting them, stood outside an armoured black limousine which had been driven as close as possible to the beach. Dalton had called ahead when the ship had neared Earth, and as such the escort had been laid on to transport himself and Li back to the White House. He had been surprised when, shortly after the incinerator had entered Earth's orbit, Li had approached him and requested asylum in the US. While Dalton didn't exactly consider Li to be particularly trustworthy, he could guess the man's motives this time. The agent had been ordered to attempt to go behind the back of the UN in order to carry out his mission, and had even attempted to assassinate him. Li's orders had obviously come from the Chinese leadership, and it wasn't unlikely that they would seek to make him disappear, so as to be able to deny any knowledge of the event. That being the case, Dalton felt compelled to grant his request, though he would be sure to keep Li under a good deal of surveillance. The man _had_ made an attempt on his life after all.

As Li gathered his belongings together and headed to the car, Dalton lingered a little longer on the beach, much to the nervousness of his bodyguards. He stared out at the setting sun, which was casting the entire beach in a pleasant orange glow. As he stood, grateful to be taking in Earth's air again, he heard soft footsteps behind him, and turned to see Steven wandering over to join him.

"I gotta hand it to you kid" Dalton said as Steven took up a position beside him "you really pulled it out of the bag back there. I'd heard all the stories about the things you'd done before, but you still managed to surprise me."

Steven looked slightly embarrassed, rubbing the back of his own head reflexively. "I guess it _would_ be pretty surprising for someone who hasn't been involved in Gem stuff before, but this is usually how things go for me." Steven's face then took on a slightly less happy expression. "To be honest, I'm actually not sure if things turned out as well as I'd wanted this time. When we brought the Diamonds round, it seemed like everything was wrapped up, but this time, there's still an awful lot of stuff I couldn't fix."

Dalton had to concede that point. While things had gone better than even his most optimistic predictions, it had still been quite a messy fix. Rose Quartz's surrender had ended the struggle with minimal loss of life, but a man was still dead, as were a few Gems, shattered during the two space battles. The way things had ended certainly wasn't going to sate the international community's desire for retribution either. The Gems' refusal to include humanity in Rose's trial (largely because Steven had ensured that there wouldn't _be_ a trial) was only going to rile them up more.

While the Diamonds' and Crystal Gems' actions against Facet 31 had prevented a war, the crisis had left an impact all the same. Relations between Earth and Homeworld that had been shaky to begin with were now downright icy, at least from humanity's point of view. The two worlds had asked for each other's trust, and both had in some way abused that trust. He hoped at least that the knowledge that recent events had been precipitated by the actions of a Russian agent; a human, would discourage the UN from shooting their mouths off at the Diamonds. While Rose Quartz had been planning her strike since long before the Rozhenko incident, it had technically been humanity that had thrown the first stone. Either way, he knew that agonizing over the details wouldn't get him anywhere until he was actually in front of the UN council, so he instead focused on comforting the child for whom he had come to have so much respect.

"Listen, Steven" he began, kneeling down to the boy's height "nobody can be expected to fix everything; not even you. Yeah, you've had a great track record so far, but you can't keep holding yourself to that standard expecting it to last forever. Sometimes, problems slip through the cracks. That's life. You've already done more good in just a few years than most people will in a lifetime; certainly a lot more than I ever have. All you can do is focus on saving all the people you can, and do your best to make sure you don't have to do it often."

Steven seemed to perk up a little at the encouragement, but there was a residual sadness in his eyes which told Dalton that no matter what he said, Steven wouldn't be able to let it go completely. This didn't surprise him of course; no-one with a conscience would be unmoved by what had happened. He just hoped that Steven wouldn't dwell on it too heavily. It wasn't right for someone that young to have so much weight on their shoulders.

"Thanks" Steven finally replied. "I'll try to remember that."

Dalton grinned back at him, before glancing over to his increasingly exasperated bodyguards. "Well, I'd better head on" Dalton sighed. "They'll go crazy if I make them wait any longer, and I probably have a few fires to put out once I get back to work."

"Ok, just let me know if you run into any trouble with Homeworld that you and the Diamonds can't work out" replied Steven. He had made the offer mainly as a courtesy; as he knew that if things ever _did_ reach that point, the Diamonds would almost certainly contact _him_ first. Still, it was the polite thing to say.

Dalton gave him a nod and began to walk away. "Oh, and President Dalton?" Steven said after him. The politician turned back to look over his shoulder. "Thanks for trusting me back there, on the zoo." Dalton smiled, and wordlessly turned back towards his car.

Once Dalton's convoy had left, Rose finally emerged from the Sun Incinerator, no longer needing to hide herself from the humans' prying eyes. Steven turned to look up at her, and, seeing her anxious expression, gave her a reassuring smile. She returned it, and the two of them watched the sun set over the ocean.

* * *

**THREE DAYS LATER**

**UN council chamber:**

Marie Bujold sat with her head in her hand, massaging her eyes with her finger and thumb. They'd been at this for hours already, and it didn't seem as though they were going to be making headway any time soon. She opened her eyes and looked up again, her gaze inevitably wandering to the visages of the three Diamonds, projected on massive screens at the far end of the chamber for the purposes of their meeting with Earth's leaders.

"Unacceptable!" President Liu shouted, getting to his feet and slapping both hands on the table in front of him. "Rose Quartz _murdered_ a human citizen, and attempted to stage a planet-wide attack against Earth! You can't seriously be saying that you won't allow us to try her for her crimes!"

Bujold watched on, content to allow Liu to lead the inquisition for her. She was still smarting from her last conversation with the Diamonds, and frankly, she didn't know how the man had the guts to keep arguing with them like this.

"That is precisely what we're saying" replied White Diamond, her initially diplomatic tone having been turned icy by the preceding hours of back-and-forth. "We've seen what your peoples' attempts at 'justice' amounted to following Rose Quartz's initial message: indiscriminate attacks against Beach City's Gems. We are not about to place Rose Quartz in the care of humanity without being certain of her safety."

Liu looked ready to start spouting smoke from his ears. "You're concerned for the safety of someone who attempted mass murder?! I suppose I shouldn't be surprised; it must feel like someone new just joined your club."

Yellow practically snarled from her monitor, and had opened her mouth to spout what would surely have been a spine-chilling retort when White cut across her, trying to salvage what little chance for diplomacy remained. "Mr President, you're half right. We Diamonds spent millennia disregarding the significance of our Gems' lives. Now that we've learnt the error of our ways, we will _not_ do so again. The safety of any Gem, even a criminal, is of importance to us now."

"So, what then?" replied Liu, clearly not won over. "She just gets off scot-free for trying to wipe us out?" A series of murmurs could be heard throughout the chamber as various world leaders muttered to each other.

"Of course not" replied White in a conciliatory tone. "Rest assured that as soon as Homeworld's new legal system is set in stone, Rose Quartz will receive appropriate punishment." This was, of course, a lie. Steven would never allow Rose to be punished, and, seeing as the Diamonds themselves were guilty of even greater crimes, all three knew it would be hypocritical for them to pass judgement of any kind on Rose. However, it was what the humans needed to hear right now if they were ever going to calm themselves down, so White was willing to settle for a comforting lie.

The comment seemed to land with a few of the humans, but others were visibly disgruntled at the nebulous promise of Rose being tried under an as-yet non-existent legal system. As more leaders got to their feet to pose their own questions, White supressed the urge to sigh. This was going to be a pain in the gem, but she and the other Diamonds would have to sit through it. Steven wanted to protect Rose, so the Diamonds were not going to budge on this issue any time soon.

* * *

**Beach City:**

Sapphire stood on the balcony outside Steven's house, enjoying the warm sunlight against her skin. At least this planet had one thing to offer. She had reformed the day before, and now wore a dress not too different from her Facet 31 uniform, but coloured dark blue instead of black, and lacking the organisation's logo. It didn't feel right bearing that symbol anymore. When she had awoken, the hybrid, 'Steven', had offered to allow her to stay in the human settlement known as 'Beach City' for as long as she wanted. The idea wasn't exactly appealing, but it wasn't like she had anywhere else to go. Her future was so difficult to predict since her reformation that she was almost blind, and the only other member of Facet 31 on the entire planet was the one she had the least interest in speaking to right now. Unfortunately, as she stood wallowing in her thoughts, watching Steven and his friends play some sort of archaic Earth sport out on the sand, that was the exact Gem who approached her.

Rose emerged from the house, and upon noticing Sapphire on the balcony, came and leant on the railing beside her. "Hey Sapphire…Steven told me you'd reformed."

Sapphire said nothing, and continued to look forwards at the beach. The Crystal Gems' Pearl had noticed the two of them, and looked on with an unidentifiable expression, but fortunately all the rest of Steven's friend were too enraptured by their game to notice the pair. Rose twiddles her fingers awkwardly, before attempting to continue. "Sapphire, I-"

"Rose, let's not do this now" Sapphire said flatly, unable to hide the edge in her voice. Before Rose had a chance to form any sort of reply, Sapphire jogged down the steps, and headed off towards the city. Rose let out a heavy sigh and stood, dejected, staring down at her own feet. She barely noticed when Pearl sidled up to her.

"That didn't look like it went well" Pearl said in a sympathetic tone. Pearl wasn't sure why she had been compelled to come and check on their guest, or indeed, why she hadn't done the more logical thing and run after Sapphire to make sure the small blue Gem hadn't caused a scene. She hoped that she was doing this for selfless reasons; rather than because Facet 31's former leader bore such an uncanny resemblance to her own Rose. "Are you…ok?"

Rose didn't feel like replying to such a ridiculous question, when the answer was so obviously "no", so she remained silent.

In the absence of a reply, Pearl spoke again. "Y'know… I think I know what you're going through."

Rose gave Pearl an unamused look. "Really?" she replied incredulously. "Did you _also_ poof the person you cared about the most in the universe?"

"No…Well, yes." Replied Pearl, reflecting briefly on the fact that she might be the only one with a stranger history with Pink than Rose had. "But what I mean is, I know what it's like to have to win back someone's trust."

Part of Rose wanted to snap at the Crystal Gem for daring to assume she understood her pain, but she instead found herself wanting to say something else to her. "Is she…is she ever going to speak to me again?" Rose asked, tears welling up in her eyes.

Pearl's gaze wandered from Rose's for a moment. Her eyes scanned the beach, until they settled for the tiniest moment on the Garnet, who was enthusiastically engaging in a beach volleyball game with the others. Pearl knew from then on what she had to say, and turned back to Rose.

"It's…difficult to say, but you two were very close. I doubt she'll be able to push you away forever. Sooner or later, I think _she'll_ come to _you_ , and when that happens, you'll have to show her that things are different."

"How?" asked Rose imploringly. "How do I make it up to her?"

Pearl hardened her expression ever so slightly, but still managed to give off an aura of compassion. "It's not about making it up to her." At Rose's confused expression, Pearl realised she would need to give more details. She sighed, and shared a story that, until that moment, no-one but Garnet, Amethyst, and Steven had known about. "A while back, I…did something inappropriate to Garnet. I tricked her into fusing with me when she wouldn't have done so otherwise. When she found out, she was furious. I didn't know if she would ever speak to me again."

Rose was a little shocked to hear that one of Pink's bleeding-heart rebels was capable of such an act, but she was more interested in where the story went. "And?" she asked. "What did you do to fix things?"

"Well…" Pearl continued "I found out very quickly that no amount of apologies or favours or acts of heroism were going to patch it up. The only thing that helped things get better between us was for me to show her that I understood that what I'd done was wrong, and that I was making an effort to be better. That was when she started to trust me again. I think that if you can show Sapphire that you're genuinely trying to be a better person than you were before, she'll understand. That is, if she's anything like Garnet" Pearl added, covering her bases in case her advice was wrong.

For the first time since Sapphire had reformed, Rose smiled. She had never expected to be taking advice from a Pearl, much less a rebel one. "Thanks" she said. "Pink was lucky to have you, y'know that?"

Pearl looked back at her with a playful smirk. "So I've been told."

The two were pulled out of their conversation when Steven shouted to get their attention. He had obviously noticed Pearl's absence. "Hey you two!" he said, beaming. "Come over here and join us! You'd love Beach volleyball Rose! You get to hit things!"

Rose looked anxious, hesitating at the invitation. It was still surreal to her that Steven was willing to have her around at all after that she'd done, much less interact with her.

Her alertness returned when Pearl patted her on the back. "Come on, let's go join the game. Steven is the kind of person whose trust you don't _have_ to earn. He just gives it to you from the very start."

Rose might once have considered such a stance to be naïve, but now, she couldn't help but smile at such unconditional acceptance. As she jogged out onto the beach, Steven welcomed her with an enthusiastic smile, and she felt freer than she had in thousands of years. What lay ahead wasn't always going to be easy, but here, in this moment, she had found her missing peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's more or less our story. Just an epilogue chapter next time and then we're done! Hope you've enjoyed the ride.


	50. Chapter 50

**TWENTY-FIVE YEARS LATER:**

**The White House, United States of America:**

Connie Maheswaran sat behind her desk, finishing off the last of her work for the evening. Soft orange light poured in through the three tall windows behind her, casting the room in a comfortable glow. The documents themselves made for rather dry reading, but Connie got enough satisfaction out of the other parts of her job that she was willing to wade through them. Looking up from her work for a moment, her eyes fell on one of the portraits which adorned the walls of the auspicious room. It was a picture she herself had had installed upon taking office, depicting one of her predecessors. The painting was a very good likeness, capturing the subject's salt and pepper hair, determined eyes, and warm, almost cheeky smile. Though James Dalton's presidency had ended long ago, it had been the most instrumental in shaping Connie's desire to get into politics, so she kept the painting in her office to remind herself of the standard she sought to hold herself to.

As she sat reflecting on those old memories, she was startled back to alertness when her office door swung open, and a particularly flustered-looking aide stumbled in, carrying a stack of files. The young woman looked to be in her early twenties; a new hire under Connie's policy of employing more young people in her administration. Catching Connie's eye, the aide's face flicked rapidly into an awkward smile.

"Ah, Madame President! Sorry to bother you when you're right about to head out, but I have those files you wanted, and also-gah!" The woman's sentence was cut short as she tripped over her own feet and fell to the floor, scattering the files around her.

Connie immediately rose from her seat and went over to help her up. As she bent down to the young woman though, she noticed something that momentarily caught her off guard. When the woman had slipped, her left sleeve had been pulled up slightly, revealing a marbled cyan and pink gemstone embedded in the back of her hand. Connie had been blanking on the aide's name until that point, but seeing the gemstone brought it back to the front of her mind.

"Let me help you out" said Connie, gathering the files together. "It's Launa Watkins, isn't it?"

"Y-yes ma'am" Watkins replied sheepishly. Connie gave her a reassuring smile.

"You're half Gem, right?" Connie continued. She knew it was true of course; it was the first thing she had noticed on Watkins' CV when it had crossed her desk, but it felt like a natural thing to make conversation about.

"Yes ma'am" Watkins replied, seeming slightly flustered. "I'm an Ocean Jasper on my mother's side; well, of course on my mother's side; that's how Gems wo- sorry, I'm talking too much again." The young woman subconsciously rubbed the back of her head and smiled embarrassedly at Connie.

"Don't worry about it" Connie said with a chuckle. "It's good that you're so comfortable talking about it. Too many people these days try to hide it."

That much was unfortunately the truth. In the years since the Gems had revealed themselves to humanity, relations between Earth and Homeworld had improved greatly, and after a few years there had been an influx of Gems immigrating to Earth. Inevitably, some of those Gems had fallen for humans and, as a result, Steven was no longer the only hybrid in existence. While this state of affairs was pretty much what the two worlds had hoped for, it wasn't without its issues. Hybrids, by the very nature of how Gems and humans reproduced, were always raised by single fathers, and often found themselves somewhat disadvantaged as a result.

There was also, of course, a race element. While attitudes towards Gems had improved dramatically since Connie was a child, there were still those who held on to old prejudices, and didn't look too kindly on Gems or hybrids, which led to hybrids often trying to hide their gemstones when in public. It had caused a stir among certain groups when Connie had made the broadening of rights for hybrids one of her key campaign pledges. Still, it was something she was determined to do, and she wasn't about to let a few scaremongers stand in her way.

"Thank you ma'am" Watkins stammered appreciatively. "It means a lot to know that there are people who think like you do."

"Heh, don't mention it" replied Connie. As she finished gathering the files, she left them in a stack on her desk. Their contents could wait until tomorrow. As Watkins turned to leave, Connie suddenly remembered what the aide had said when she first entered. "Oh, Watkins?" she called after her. Watkins turned around before reaching the doorway. "You weren't done speaking when you tripped. Is there something else you needed to tell me?"

Watkins thought for a moment, and then her eyes shot wide open as she remembered the rest of what she had been supposed to say. "Oh! Yes! There is one more thing. Your husband told me that he'll be waiting outside your office for you when you're done working. He was holding what appeared to be a violin and a…jar of jam?"

Watkins was clearly confused, but Connie knew exactly what Steven had planned. She enjoyed the fact that they'd kept up their old tradition even into adulthood. Trying to hide the grin on her face, she simply said "OK, that's great. Thank you Watkins." The aide nodded and slipped out of the office, leaving Connie to her thoughts once again.

She sat back down at her desk to finish trawling through her last piece of paperwork. As she did, she reflected on the battles she and Steven had fought to make their current world possible; a world where humans and Gems lived side by side, less than three decades after their world had been at war. She felt honoured to have been a part of that fight, and privileged to be a part of that world. As she finished the last of her reading, she slipped her documents into a drawer, and headed out to meet Steven. It was going to be a very good night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end. Thank you so much to everyone who read this far. Missing Peace was my first ever fic back in the day, so revisiting it here has been a lot of fun. I hope to provide you with more stories in the future.


End file.
